Fire Magic

by Barry Davies

On 14th October 1977 Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany appealed to Prime Minister James Callaghan for British anti-terrorist expertize in an attempt to liberate the passengers and crew of Lufthansa Flight LH181 from Palma to Frankfurt. The Boeing 737 had been hijacked by the Arab Terrorists and the story was to dominate world news for five days.

Sergeant Barry Davies and Major Alastair Morrison were summoned to Downing Street. Davies had been trained in anti-terrorism and he took the lead in explaining to four cabinet ministers that the best chance of liberating those on board was to use the newly developed stun grenade. For the next six days Davies and Morrison trailed the Lufthansa 737 as it landed and took off from four different airports in the Middle East. In Aden the pilot was shot dead. On day three the sanitation facilities and food supplies gave out. On day five the 737 landed at Mogadishu. On day six German GSG9 troops, led by Davies and Morrison, entered the plane with stun grenades. All the passengers and crew were freed and two of the four terrorists shot dead.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[PAUL · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account of the hijacking of the Lufthansa Boeing 737 flight LH181 from Palma to Frankfurt in October 1977. The author was one of the two SAS men, along with the German GSG9, who bravely thwarted the hijackers after they had ordered the plane to fly to Rome,Larnaca,Dubai and then to Aden and finally Mogadishu in Somalia. The object of the PFLP hijackers was to gain the release of Baader-Meinhof members held in German prisons.

Highly recommended.