Hi All, I'm having an issue finding information on an incident that happened to my parents and sister in approximately 1971 - 1974. The plane they were on landed in Entebbe and was hijacked by Idi Amin. I can't find anything anywhere about this. They boarded a B.O.A.C. flight to Lusaka, stopping in Entebbe to refuel. My Dad remembers that on take off the VC10 aircraft that they were on was very heavy at the back indicating a very full cargo, the plane had few passengers. There was also a shipment of 1000 day old chicks going to a farmer in Zambia on board, the poor things obviously perished. After being stopped for 12 hours on the runway by the military. After they were taken through a harrowing customs experience and taken to a hotel. They were kept there for over 24 hours before being shuffled out and on to a British Caledonian flight to Lusaka. Its like history has been deleted. My father thinks that they took weapons off the plane, mortar bombs intended for the Zambian Army.
Does anyone know anything about this please?
I've found the incident your family remembers. It apparently wasn't technically a hijacking, but a seizure of the plane at the airport in Entebbe. That explains why you've not been able to find information in your searches for hijackings.
It happened on June 16th, 1972. (I'm almost certain it was the 16th, though it could have been the 15th - time zones aren't my friend.) There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about it that's easily accessible, unfortunately. The only things I could find this morning are a description in The Tale Of Kenneth's Mortars at the bottom of this page (sorry, I can't link the post in question directly), the youtube video embedded in that information, and there's information in the document mentioned here at the U.K. National Archives.
I'm not familiar with the National Archives in the U.K., but I'm familiar with archives in general and I'd say that since it is listed as an "open document" you should be able to contact them to ask for a scanned copy of it because it's not digitized. The archives might also have other documents pertaining to the seizure of the plane and if you reach out to them, an archivist would likely be more than willing to help you find out/find them.
I'd be happy to look more into it this weekend when I have more time if you'd like, though I can't guarantee that I could find any more information. It appears to be something that has sort of flown under the radar of history. (Apologies for the terrible pun.)
You are a gem thank you so much. A bit of funny but useless information for you. In about 1980 my parents saw Amin in a supermarket in Jeddah. My Mum walked up to him with the intention of kicking him but my Dad pulled her back as she lifted her leg lol.