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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0102.PDF
84 AIR TRANSPORT... FLIGHT International, 16 January 1969 Beirut aftermath David Woolley looks at the effects of the Israeli raid of December 28 BUSINESS CONTINUES very much as usual at Beirut Airport. Only the charred carcasses of aircraft heaped in piles near the perimeter of the field mark the Israeli raid of December 28, when 13 Lebanese aircraft were destroyed by helicopter-borne commando troops. The traveller taxies past forlorn pieces of DG-4 and DC-6B near the TMA hangar, while over behind the Middle East Airlines' base on the west side of the airfield is the biggest heap of all; somewhere there are- the remains of one brand-new 707-320C, most expensive item in a most expensive inventory of destruction. The raid (see Flight for January 2, page 2) was in retaliation for the Arab attack on an El AI 707 at Athens On December 26. It began at 9.30 on the evening of December 28, as four Israeli Super Frelons swept in undetected from the sea. One landed by the MEA base, another on the east side by the TMA base, and a third on the apron in front of the terminal building. Commando troops landed from the helicopters and immediately attacked all Lebanese aircraft on the airport, apart from those that were in hangars. By the time they left, three- quarters of an hour later, every single Lebanese aircraft was destroyed or on fire. There was not a single casualty, and (contrary to first reports) none of the hangars or airport installations were damaged. Also unscathed were all the foreign aircraft on the airport, including some in the MEA engineering base. The airport reopened at 1100 next morning, and an MEA flight left with 77 passengers for Paris and London. It was Sunday, but all MEA employees had reported for duty with- The blackened remains of an MEA Comet 4C at Beirut after the raid in which the airline last eight of its 13 aircraft out being asked. The airline had lost eight aircraft in, the raid—the 707, a VC10, three Comet 4Cs, two Caravelles and a Viscount It had five left—one of each type—with which to maintain services. By dint of combining destinations—Paris with London, Athens with Rome, Baghdad with Teheran and so on—it was possible to operate the day's services. Of the other two airlines involved, one, TMA, lost a DC-4 and a DC-6B. The other, LIA, was not operating; it has been grounded since June with financial difficulties and has been negotiating a possible merger with MEA. It lost two Convair 990s and a. DC-7C; another DC-7C was in the hangar at the time and was unharmed. For MEA, the raid came at a time when the airline was Sheikh Najib Alamuddin, chairman and president of MEA
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