The Trans-Australian Airlines hijacking was Australia's first

aircraft hijacking Aircraft hijacking (also known as airplane hijacking, skyjacking, plane hijacking, plane jacking, air robbery, air piracy, or aircraft piracy, with the last term used within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States) is the unlawfu ...

. It occurred on 19 July 1960 over

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

in a

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

(TAA)

Lockheed Electra Lockheed Electra refers to two distinct aircraft designs: * Lockheed Model 10 Electra, a ten-passenger piston engine aircraft of the 1930s, which had two immediate variants: ** Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, a six-passenger scaled-down version o ...

. 43 passengers and six crew were on board Flight 408, the last Sydney to Brisbane flight for the day. The crew consisted of hostesses Fay Strugnell and Janeene Christie, captain John Benton, first officer T. R. (Tom) Bennett and flight engineer Fred McDonald. Another TAA pilot, captain D. R. (Dennis) Lawrence, was traveling in the cockpit as a passenger. The hijacker, Alex Hildebrandt, wielded a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle, as well as a bomb: two sticks of

gelignite Gelignite (), also known as blasting gelatin or simply "jelly", is an explosive material consisting of collodion- cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltp ...

, connected to a detonator that would apparently have fired, had Hildebrandt touched a bare wire to a torch battery. After demanding that the plane be redirected to Singapore, Hildebrandt fired a shot, which went through the aircraft ceiling. Captain Bennett, who had been narrowly missed by the bullet, punched Hildebrandt and pulled the wires from his hand, disabling the bomb. Captain Lawrence assisted Bennett in subduing and disarming the hijacker. Bennett was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

for his actions and Lawrence was formally commended."BENNETT, Thomas Ross"
It's an Honour. Retrieved 18 January 2015. Hildebrandt, who had been born in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in 1938, faced serious charges of attempted murder, having an explosive detonating device with the intention of destroying the aircraft and having explosives capable of causing injuries to persons on board. Hildebrandt was sentenced to three years in jail for attempted murder, 10 years for attempting to destroy the aircraft and two years for the explosives charge. He successfully appealed the sentence in the Queensland Criminal Court as he argued that the aircraft which was 35 minutes into the flight, was over

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

(NSW) when he armed the explosives in the aircraft toilet. He served a three-year sentence in Brisbane, for attempted murder and on discharge was arrested by detectives from NSW. He faced court again and was convicted on the charge of attempted destruction of an aircraft and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in NSW.

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* {{coord, 27, 28, 08.14, S, 153, 01, 24.55, E, display=title, region:AU_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki 1960 crimes in Australia Aircraft hijackings Aircraft hijackings in Australia Aviation accidents and incidents in Queensland 1960s in Queensland Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed L-188 Electra

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References

External links