Qantas Flight 755

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Qantas Flight 755
Boeing 707 Qantas (VH-XBA) .jpg
Accident summary
Accident type Bomb threat
place Sydney , AustraliaAustraliaAustralia 
date May 26, 1971
Fatalities 0
Survivors 126
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Boeing 707
operator AustraliaAustralia Qantas Airways
Mark VH-EBU
Departure airport Kingsford Smith International Airport , Australia
AustraliaAustralia 
Destination airport Kai Tak Airport , Hong Kong
Hong KongHong Kong 
Passengers 116
crew 12
Lists of aviation accidents

The Qantas flight 755 (flight number: QF 755 ) was a scheduled flight of the Australian airline Qantas Airways from Sydney to Hong Kong , which was overshadowed by a bomb threat. In Australia the incident is known as the "Qantas bomb hoax".

Flight history

On Wednesday afternoon of May 26, 1971, the Boeing 707 under the direction of the pilot Flying William Selwyn took off at 11:30 a.m. from Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney with destination Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong .

An hour and a half after take-off, a call came in saying there was a bomb on board and asking for $ 500,000 for information on the exact location of the bomb. The bomb would explode if the plane fell below 20,000 feet (6,500 m).

When Captain Selwyn was informed, the plane was near Dalby , west of Brisbane . He informed the passengers that they had to fly to Brisbane due to "a technical error". However, Qantas chose Sydney because the facilities there were better in the event of a disaster with a possible 128 deaths; the passengers were told that Brisbane would not accept their flight, their landing. Eight Australian Navy boats, 17 ambulances and 12 fire engines were activated.

The Qantas established a direct radio link to the aircraft and the aircraft, having arrived in Sydney airspace, turned on hold in the open sea east of Bondi Beach with minimal force while the crew looked for "an object".

After the ransom was finally handed over to the extortionist at 5:45 p.m., he reported by phone at 6:10 p.m. or 6:20 p.m. and said that there was no bomb on board the plane and that it was safe to land and so began to change 18:40 the landing approach and the aircraft touched down after six hours and with a remaining tank of fuel that would have been enough for a 16-minute flight.

“We have been advised there is nil - repeat nil - bomb on board. Please advise your cabin altitude and aircraft altitude. "

“We were told that there are no - I repeat: no bombs on board. Please let us know your cabin pressure altitude and the flight altitude of the aircraft. "

- Qantas radio message at 6:13 p.m.

background

The Briton Peter Macari came to Australia in 1969 at the age of 31 after he had forfeited a bail in his home country. One evening while he was sitting in his motel room watching television, the 1966 film The Flight of Terror , which inspired him, was on.

Together with his 28-year-old accomplice Rayomd Poynting, who knew how to build a bomb and was promised US $ 50,000 by Macari for complicity, he planned the extortion.

At 11 a.m. on May 26, 1971, Macari called “Mr. Brown “contacted the civil aviation authority, the Commonwealth Police or Qantas Airways , and asked for US $ 500,000 for the information needed to find the bomb on board. The bomb would automatically explode as soon as the aircraft descended below 20,000 feet (6,500 m). In order to prove the authenticity of his request, Mr. Brown stated that he had placed an identical second bomb in a locker at Sydney Airport. This second bomb would explode at an altitude of less than 5,000 feet (1,500 m), which was confirmed after a test flight in a Qantas machine (Boeing 707) - the explosives were exchanged for a light bulb.

At 5:30 p.m. the demands were given in and Qantas General Manager Phillip Howson agreed to the demand. Just 15 minutes later, a yellow stolen or rented Volkswagen van appeared in front of the main Qantas building in Sydney and the money was handed over to Mr. Brown.

At 6:10 p.m. or 6:20 p.m. the perpetrator called another, one last time and said that there was no bomb on board the plane and that it was safe to land, so the plane touched down without damage.

Macari and Poynting spent the money generously after a three-month period of hiding: two cars, a penthouse on Bondi Beach . Their new fortune made one gas station / repair shop employee suspicious and on August 4, 1971, they were both arrested.

Poynting was sentenced to seven years in prison, Macari to 15 years (maximum sentence). After nine years in prison, Macari was deported to his home country on a Qantas flight. On his return he opened a fish and chip bistro in the south of England .

Of the $ 500,000 looted, an apartment in Annandale, New South Wales, was refurbished to find 137,000 or 138,000 under a fireplace, about 112,000 were spent and about 250,000 or 261,387 are missing. Qantas raised $ 17,500 from sales of the vehicles (two Morris Cooper Ss, an E-Type Jaguar, a Ford Falcon 351 GT, a Chevrolet Camaro, and a van) and the two briefcases with which the money was presented for $ 40.

plane

The model Boeing 707 came to Qantas in 1959, the (type) 707-338C was the 21st Boeing aircraft at Qantas and was registered on March 8, 1967 and named "The City of Broken Hill ". It was sold to Air Niugini in November 1976 registered as P2-ANH . The Boeing was also registered as the N707MB, 9Q-CDA, N707HW, OB-t-1264, B2426, G-EOCO, and AF93-0597 and was scrapped at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in February 2012 .

pilot

Pilot William Selwyn was born in Rose Bay on February 24, 1922 . At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and was finally assigned to the 36 Squadron Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force in England , where he flew with the Vickers Wellington against submarines in North Africa, Italy and the Outer Hebrides. After the war he went back to Australia and flew for Cathay Pacific . He then flew from Camden Airport (New South Wales) with a Douglas DC-3 to rural areas. In 1966 he married Christina Hobb, nee Morrison, and took her to Western Australia , where he flew for MacRobertson Miller Airlines . He then flew the Boeing 707 for Qantas and retired after the incident discussed in the article, despite an offer to license the Boeing 747 . He later moved to Bendigo . He passed away in 2010.

reception

  • Movie: Call Me Mr. Brown from 1986.
  • Music: A Certrain Mr. Brown , less than a month after the incident, Peter Hiscock and Festival Records Australia released this pop song on a single.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The true story of the 1971 Qantas bomb hoax - one of Australia's most audacious heists. In: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. February 22, 2019, accessed June 18, 2020 (Australian English).
  2. ↑ a b 'Call Me Mr. Brown' - The Story of the Qantas Bomb-Hoax, Australia's Greatest Heist. In: Crime Traveler. Retrieved June 13, 2017, June 18, 2020 (UK English).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Matthew Schulz, Alysha Aitken: The Qantas 'doomsday flight'. In: Herald Sun . January 2, 2014, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Malcolm Brown: Selwyn, William (1922-2010). In: Obituaries Australia. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .
  5. ^ A b c d Staff Writers: From the Archives, 1971: Qantas pays $ 500,000 ransom in mid-air bomb hoax. In: The Age. May 25, 2020, accessed on June 18, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c The true story of the 1971 Qantas bomb hoax - one of Australia's most audacious heists. In: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. February 22, 2019, accessed June 18, 2020 (Australian English).
  7. ↑ a b c d Matthew Schulz, Alysha Aitken: The Qantas 'doomsday flight'. In: Herald Sun . January 2, 2014, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  8. ↑ https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-great-plane-robbery-of-1971/news-story/dcf347e76a448bfbafd1c3a1f36529df
  9. ^ Australian Crimes - AustralianCrimes.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .
  10. ↑ a b 'Mr Brown' and riddle of the man who just vanished. In: The Sydney Morning Herald . May 25, 2002, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Staff Writers: From the Archives, 1971: Qantas pays $ 500,000 ransom in mid-air bomb hoax. In: The Age. May 25, 2020, accessed on June 18, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Dunban McNab: How terrifying Qantas bomb hoax uncovered grisly murder. In: 7 News. August 24, 2019, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b VH-EBU Boeing 707-338C. In: Aussieairliners.org. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Aircraft Photo of VH-EBU | Boeing 707-338C | Qantas | AirHistory.net # 10160. In: Airhistory.net. Retrieved June 18, 2020 .