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Trans Australia Airlines Flight 408

1960 crimes in Australia1960s in QueenslandAccidents and incidents involving the Lockheed L-188 ElectraAircraft hijackingsAircraft hijackings in Australia
Aviation accidents and incidents in QueenslandUse Australian English from August 2011
Trans Australia Airlines Electra Finney
Trans Australia Airlines Electra Finney

The Trans-Australian Airlines hijacking was Australia's first aircraft hijacking. It occurred on 19 July 1960 over Brisbane in a Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) Lockheed Electra. 43 passengers and six crew were on board Flight 408, the last Sydney to Brisbane flight for the day. The crew consisted of hostesses Fay Strugnell and Janeene Christie, captain John Benton, first officer T. R. (Tom) Bennett and flight engineer Fred McDonald. Another TAA pilot, captain D. R. (Dennis) Lawrence, was traveling in the cockpit as a passenger. The hijacker, Alex Hildebrandt, wielded a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle, as well as a bomb: two sticks of gelignite, connected to a detonator that would apparently have fired, had Hildebrandt touched a bare wire to a torch battery. After demanding that the plane be redirected to Singapore, Hildebrandt fired a shot, which went through the aircraft ceiling. Captain Bennett, who had been narrowly missed by the bullet, punched Hildebrandt and pulled the wires from his hand, disabling the bomb. Captain Lawrence assisted Bennett in subduing and disarming the hijacker. Bennett was awarded the George Medal for his actions and Lawrence was formally commended.Hildebrandt, who had been born in the Soviet Union in 1938, faced serious charges of attempted murder, having an explosive detonating device with the intention of destroying the aircraft and having explosives capable of causing injuries to persons on board. Hildebrandt was sentenced to three years in jail for attempted murder, 10 years for attempting to destroy the aircraft and two years for the explosives charge. He successfully appealed the sentence in the Queensland Criminal Court as he argued that the aircraft which was 35 minutes into the flight, was over New South Wales (NSW) when he armed the explosives in the aircraft toilet. He served a three-year sentence in Brisbane, for attempted murder and on discharge was arrested by detectives from NSW. He faced court again and was convicted on the charge of attempted destruction of an aircraft and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in NSW.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Trans Australia Airlines Flight 408 (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Trans Australia Airlines Flight 408
Inner Northern Busway,

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N -27.468927777778 ° E 153.02348611111 °
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Brisbane City Hall

Inner Northern Busway
4004 , Brisbane City (Brisbane City)
Queensland, Australia
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Trans Australia Airlines Electra Finney
Trans Australia Airlines Electra Finney
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Brisbane Administration Centre
Brisbane Administration Centre

Northbank Plaza is an office building in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Located at 69 Ann Street in the central business district, it is located immediately south of the Brisbane City Hall. Until 2007 it was known as the Brisbane Administration Centre (BAC), and served as the administrative headquarters for the Brisbane City Council. When originally opened in the 1930s the Brisbane City Hall was intended to house all of the council's office staff, as well as councillors, together with public meeting rooms. However, as Brisbane rapidly grew, the council converted many of the smaller public meeting rooms and vestibules to office space. Eventually by the 1960s offices were being built on the roof and in the basement of the city hall. Some council departments, such as the Transport Department, and part of the Health Department could not fit into City Hall and were located elsewhere. During the tenure of Lord Mayor Clem Jones (1961–1974) properties were acquired south of the City Hall with the intention of constructing a large office tower to replace the cramped conditions then prevailing in City Hall. The BAC was opened in 1975, together with a shopping plaza below street level. For many years the shopping centre struggled, owing to its awkward layout and dark interior. The plaza was completely revamped in the early 1990s, the shops were relocated to street level and their former location being taken over by a new public library. The relocation of most council offices from City Hall to the BAC allowed the council to restore the City Hall's meeting rooms and vestibules to their original purpose and to undertake a thorough restoration of the building. This was largely completed by the mid-1980s. An underground public car park is also located beneath the building. In 2006 the city council moved its offices to another high rise office block Brisbane Square, located in Queen Street. In 2007-08 the building underwent a $30 million upgrade in 2007/2008 and was subsequently renamed Northbank Plaza. The building supports 26,000m2 of office space over twenty-two levels, with the ground floor used as both a lobby and a small retail area. The tenants of Northbank Plaza are Telstra, RemServ, Parsons-Brinckerhoff, and Australian federal government departments.