Edmonton Aircraft Bombing
Background
The United States Air Force had flown 112 aircraft to the Edmonton Industrial Airport, where they were to be repaired by Northwest Industries.
Although initial reports pointed out that 15 of the planes had run spy missions over post-Revolution China, the attack was said to be in protest of the Vietnam War. It is believed to have been one of the first attacks ever citing the involvement of the U.S. in the Vietnam War as its motive.
Attack
A security guard, Threnton James Richardson, was bound, gagged, and then shot with a rifle, when the perpetrator entered the airport.
Two F-84 jets were destroyed, and a third heavily damaged by the bombing.
Following the attack, an unemployed German immigrant, Harry Waldeman Freidrich Hubach, was arrested by police and charged with the murder of the security guard.
Hubach was found guilty and sentenced to hang. But upon appeal and a new trial he pleaded guilty to non-capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Released, he turned his life around, married and ran a successful business, finally dying around 2005 in Kingston, Ontario.
References
- ^ CBC News Edmonton's terrorist attack: the 1965 airport bombing, Jan. 26, 2014
- ^ Edmonton Journal, "Jan. 28, 1965: Edmonton man charged with murder, sabotage", January 28, 2015
- ^ Edmonton Disaster Timetable City of Edmonton
- ^ Ross, Jeffrey Ian. "Violence in Canada", 2004. p. 300
- ^ Los Angeles Times, 3 US jets dynamited, guard slain in Canada Archived 2012-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, January 29, 1965.
- ^ Maryland Morning Herald, "Guard killed in Canadian sabotage try", January 29, 1965
- ^ San Antonio Express, "US Jets Blasted in Canada", January 29, 1965
- ^ Oxnard Press-Courier, "US jets blown up, immigrant charged with killing guard", January 29, 1965.
- ^ CBC News Edmonton 1965 airport bombing: the untold story, Jan. 28, 2014