Episode 302: Fly the Friendly Skyjackers Part 1: Golden Years

Show Notes Episode 302: “Fly the Friendly Skyjackers Part 1: The Golden Years” This week Host Dave Bledsoe gets hammered on Cuba Libres and demands a Cuban Sandwich! (Only to pass out before DoorDash arrives) On the show this week we head back to the heyday of airline travel, when the seats were roomy and a lot of your flights unexpectedly arrived in Havana! Along the way we discover how astonishingly bad Dave was (and probably IS) at geography. From there we dive right into stories of desperados commandeering planes for the Communist Paradise of Cuba only to discover they were not wanted there. Then we learn the tale of a Hunky Marine who became an Italian folk hero because everyone hated America being in Vietnam. (Which was actually fair!) Then we learn how one particular skyjacking ended the Golden Years of American Skyjacking! (Threaten to crash into ONE nuclear reactor and everyone goes nuts!) This is part one of a series, next week we cover the Most Famous Skyjacker of All! (That will show Santa for fucking with Herbie and Rudolf!) Our Sponsor this week is Unexpected Destinations, got fifty bucks, we will fly you...somewhere. We open the show with a man who just wants to get to Luton and close with Lee Flier looking back on better times.  Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ www.whatthehellpodcast.com Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/WC7APR-Gn3o We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/ Citations Needed: "U.S. Plane Seized, Flown To Havana" https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/us-plane-seized-flown-havana The strangest stories from the golden age of plane hijacking https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/golden-age-of-hijacking/ Travel: What to Do When The Hijacker Comes http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,844656,00.html This Heartthrob Marine Became an Italian Folk Hero For Hijacking a Plane https://historycollection.com/this-heartthrob-marine-became-an-italian-folk-hero-because-of-an-airplane-hijacking/2/ How Hijackers Commandeered Over 130 American Planes — In 5 Years https://www.wired.com/2013/06/love-and-terror-in-the-golden-age-of-hijacking/ Ex-Detroiter behind infamous 1972 skyjacking tells his story https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/06/detroit-skyjacker-airplane-explanation/85314438/ Uncited Additional Reading: https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/us/us-airline-hijackings-1970s-declassified/index.html https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48069272 https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/skyjacking/ https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/article/the-strange-story-of-the-first-ever-plane-hijack https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11326472/hijacking-airplanes-egyptair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/after-egyptair-four-hijackings-that-shook-israel-1.5424289 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices