events
Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.
Related Wikipedia articles
Southern Airways
Defunct airline of the United States (1949–1979)
Southern Airways was a local service carrier, a scheduled airline in the United States that operated from 1949 until 1979, when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines. Southern's corporate headquarters were in Atlanta, with operations headquartered at…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Southern Airways Flight 49
1972 aircraft hijacking
The hijacking of Southern Airways Flight 49 started on November 10, 1972, in Birmingham, Alabama, stretching over 30 hours, three countries, and 4,000 miles (6,400 km), not ending until the next evening in Havana, Cuba. Three men, Melvin Cale, Louis Moore, and Henry D. Jackson…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Birmingham, Alabama
City in Alabama, United States
Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the state with a population of 200,733 at the 2020 census and estimated at 196,357 in 2024, while the Birmingham metropolitan area with over 1.19 million residents…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Aircraft hijacking
Incident involving unlawful seizure of an aircraft in operation
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. Dating from the earliest of hijackings, most cases involve the pilot being forced to fly according to the hijacker's demands. There have also been incidents where the hijackers have…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Federal research center in Tennessee, US
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and administered by UT–Battelle, LLC.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Havana
Capital and largest city of Cuba
Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. It is the most populous city, the largest by area, and the second largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region. The population in 2021…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Cuba
Island country in the Caribbean
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country in the Caribbean, comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Fidel Castro
Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)