EASTERN AIRLINER HIJACKED, PILOT FORCED TO FLY TO CUBA
Miami, Florida (JFK+50) On July 24, 1961, Eastern Airlines* Flight 202, having taken off from Miami International Airport here in Florida, was hijacked and forced "at gunpoint" to fly to Havana, Cuba.
Captain W. E. Buchanan sent the following radio message...
"I am proceeding to Havana at pistol point."
The Eastern prop-jet Electra had 33 passengers and 5 crewmen aboard. It departed Miami at 10:05 this morning and landed at Jose Marti Airport in Havana at 11:29.
A U.S. fighter jet flew alongside the hijacked airliner until it reached "a point three miles from Cuba."
JFK+50 NOTE
In the last two years, The Evening Star (7-24-61) reports, nine airplanes had been hijacked between Florida and Cuba. Seven, however, were Cuban aircraft which were forced to land in Florida. Previous to this incident, only one American airliner had been hijacked to Cuba.
*Eastern Airlines (1926-1991) was headquartered in Miami, Florida & had a near monopoly on air travel between New York & Florida in the 1930s, 1940s & 1950s.
SOURCE
"Airliner Hijacked, Lands in Cuba," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., July 24, 1961, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
