Freedom flight, a true account of the Cold War's greatest escape, Frank Iszak
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Classification
1
Creator
1
Subject
7
Content
1
Author
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Label
Freedom flight, a true account of the Cold War's greatest escape, Frank Iszak
Language
eng
resource.biographical
contains biographical information
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
Freedom flight
Responsibility statement
Frank Iszak
Sub title
a true account of the Cold War's greatest escape
Summary
On the afternoon of Friday 13 July 1956, seven desperate young people boarded a commercial flight in the People's Republic of Hungary with the intention of hijacking it (the first in history), diverting it to West Germany and claiming political asylum. They had no weapons, no map, and no idea whether the plane carried enough fuel to get them there. They would have to brave the gun of the security officer on board, the wild manoeuvres of the pilot, the Russian MiG fighters in hot pursuit, and a harrowing flight over the stormy Alps without navigation. Failure would mean certain death. One of the seven was Frank Iszak, a young journalist at the apex of the Communist terror in Hungary, whose controversial articles had landed him in a uranium mine for 're-education'. He broke out, but remained a fugitive within the country's heavily guarded borders. In order to escape, he put together a boxing team, and en route to the regional championship they diverted their flight across the Iron Curtain
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