
On December 30, 1952, after takeoff from Laoag an
armed man forced his way into the cockpit. He pulled .45-caliber
pistol and demanded that the plane be brought to Amoy, in
mainland China. The captain took over control from the co-pilot
and put the plane into a steep dive. The hijacker did not lose
his balance and instead shot and killed the captain. The
co-pilot took over control and meanwhile the steward had come up
to the cockpit to find out what was going on. As he knocked, the
hijacker shot him twice through the cockpit door, killing him.
The co-pilot changed course to China and continued at 6,000 feet
(1,800 m) over the China Sea until two Chinese Nationalists T-6
Harvard planes showed
up. Both planes chased the DC-3 and sprayed machine gun fire.
The pilot managed to escape until he met with other Nationalist
planes, who forced the flight to land at Quemoy. At Quemoy the
hijacker was arrested. Source:
Wikipedia |