Michel Bacos

Michel Bacos (3 May 1924 – 26 March 2019) was a French airline pilot. He was the captain of Air France Flight 139 when it was hijacked on 27 June 1976 by Palestinian and German terrorists belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The hijacking was part of an international campaign of Palestinian terrorism.

Bacos was a recipient of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France. He was also awarded a medal by the Israeli government for refusing to leave his Jewish passengers behind when the terrorists released their non-Jewish hostages and offered to release Bacos and his crew.

Early life and career

Michel Bacos grew up in Port Said, Egypt where his father worked as a lawyer. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Forces Françaises Libres of General de Gaulle and, in 1943, joined the Force Navales Françaises Libres.

He was sent to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas where he became a naval aviation pilot. In 1955, he joined Air France as a pilot. This is where he met his wife, Rosemarie, a German, who was then a stewardess.

Hijacking

On 27 June 1976, Bacos was piloting an Airbus A300 flight from Athens to Paris, originating in Tel Aviv. Minutes into the flight, Bacos heard screams and quickly realized that the plane was being hijacked. Bacos was forced at gunpoint to re-route the plane. He recalled later: "The terrorist had his gun pointed continuously at my head and occasionally he would poke my neck not to look at him. We could only obey the orders of the terrorists." Bacos was forced to turn the plane south to Benghazi, Libya, for refueling, and then to fly in a south-eastern direction. He landed the jet at Entebbe, Uganda, with only 20 minutes' fuel left.

The terrorists freed the 148 non-Jewish passengers, and offered to release Bacos and his crew. They felt duty-bound to remain on the plane, and refused to leave. They stayed behind with the Jewish hostages. The captives were freed in an Israeli commando raid known as Operation Entebbe, and Bacos was dazed in the attack. After the hijacking, Bacos took a two-week holiday and requested that his first flight back be to Israel.

Awards and later life

In 1976, Bacos was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France, by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The Israeli government awarded Bacos and his crew medals for heroism, for refusing to leave the Jewish passengers behind.David Kaplan,
A Historic Hostage-Taking Revisited
" ''The Jerusalem Post'', 3 August 2006, Retrieved 20 June 2011. In June 2008, Bacos was awarded the B'nai B'rith International "Ménoras d'Or" (Golden Menorah) in Cannes, France.

Bacos retired from Air France in 1982, and resided in Nice, France, with his wife. They had seven grandchildren. In 2016, the American Jewish Congress awarded Bacos the organization's Moral Courage Award. Bacos lived in Nice at the time of his death on 26 March 2019. The Israeli National Anthem, "Hatikvah", was played at his funeral. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi recognized Bacos, saying: "Michel, bravely refusing to give in to anti-Semitism and barbarism, did honor to France. The love of France and the defense of liberties have marked his destiny."

Films

Bacos appeared as himself in the 2000 documentary film ''Operation Thunderbolt: Entebbe''. He is also depicted in:
* '' Mivtsa Yonatan'' (1977; played by Henri Czarniak)
* '' Raid on Entebbe'' (1977; played by Eddie Constantine)
* ''7 Days in Entebbe'' (2018; played by Brontis Jodorowsky)

Gallery

Michel Bacos FNFL.jpg, Michel Bacos FNFL
Michel Bacos Corpus Christi Texas.jpg, Michel Bacos Corpus Christi Texas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacos, Michel
1924 births
2019 deaths
Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
French military personnel of World War II
French aviators
Operation Entebbe
Hijacking survivors
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
People from Nice