Flight 149 | Ep 1 | Take-off

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That was when I saw what I recognized as a as a fighter bomber. And it was dropping bombs. In slow motion, as it happened. It's just the way that it looked at the time. And um That was a sort of WTF moment really. And then it clicks in your brain, Oh fuck, they're bombing the airport.

Iraqi troops and tanks are tightening their grip on Kuwait.

There was this screeching noise. And it was so strong, it felt like a rocket.

Iraqi troops crossed the border during the night, and by breakfast time they'd seize key installations like the airport and radio station.

That was really the moment where you realize, oh my god, this is not the holiday I had hoped for and uh you kind of start this first sinking in of, oh my god, I'm I'm really in the wrong place. I I really something's going m drastically wrong here.

Somebody for some reason wanted that aeroplane to land. And we did.

It's August 1, 1990, and a British Airways passenger plane carrying 385 people has just landed in Kuwait as Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army is invading. Troops have surrounded the airport, and the runway is being bombed. The passengers are about to find themselves at the center of a hostage crisis, and at the heart of one of the biggest cover-ups in modern history.

This is a story full of deception, deceit and denials.

It's the toughest story I've ever worked on. There are people out there who don't want me to tell it, governments who want it buried and forgotten.

Thank you.

To be honest, it nearly broke me. I've been the target of disinformation and sabotage, and I very nearly. But this story is too important to give up on. It's personal and political. It reads like a movie script, and yet it really happens.

This is the secret history of Flight 149.

Right.

Do not call us.

Do not come and see us. Do not leave where you are.

I really thought they were gonna take us and shoot us in the desert somewhere and I I thought this is it.

Your daily reality is the fact that at any moment a bomb could come through and hit us, or at any moment when the guard comes along, he might just pull out his gun and shoot you in the back.

Why wasn't that British Airways flight that was allowed to land in Kuwait five hours after the invasion had taken place, why wasn't it warned and allowed to be diverted?

This is something that everybody we've turned to has denied. And at some point someone's got to listen, someone's got to sit up, and I don't care who it is, but someone's got to take account for what's happened.

British Airways Flight 149 left London Heathrow at 7 pm local time on the 1st of August 1990. Its final destination was Malaysia via Madras, with a refueling stop in Kuwait. It was carrying passengers from all over the world, including the UK, the US, New Zealand, France and Germany. Twenty-four year old Barry Manners was travelling with his partner Anthony. They were on their way to visit Antony's family in Kuala Lumpa. They had chosen to fly BA as they felt it was the safest and best airline.

My first thought was, fuck, I'm sitting on a bomb here. I went immediately to Anthony. I was very conscious of the fact that we had just been refueled. And I was in a panic to get him off that plane. I just said, get the fuck off. And I forced him to get off the plane. He insisted Thank God he insisted on taking his hand luggage with him.

What was in uh Anthony's hand luggage that was so important?

A's medication. This was before any really effective treatment to slow down the progression of HIV.

Twenty two year old Jenny Gill was travelling with her brother and sister. They were heading on their summer holidays to Malaysia. Jenny had got off the plane to stretch her legs while it was being refueled. She watched events unfold from the terminal.

Before we knew it, the passengers that were in the aircraft were screaming and c rushing out of the aircraft and we're standing there going, oh my god, what the hell's just happened? My brother came Running out and we sort of s shouted out for him, We're here, we're here. And um I said, What happened? What's up? I said, Did you hear that noise? He goes, Did you hear that noise? I said, We heard that noise, we saw what it was, you know. And he said, The aircraft was

One of the youngest passengers was Gregor Schatz, just seventeen years old, from Germany. Gregor was on his school holidays, on his way to visit his girlfriend.

Like Jenny, he was also in the terminal building when the explosion started.

You couldn't really run. I mean where you gonna th th the the building was in the middle of all the runways, the airport, and we just stood and didn't know what to do, just hoping they don't come and bomb closer to the airport.

You may well be wondering how on earth this could happen. Didn't the authorities have an idea that Iraqi troops were about to invade? Surely the Foreign Office wouldn't allow people to travel to a war zone. Why wasn't the plane diverted by British Airways or Kuwaiti Air Traffic Control? questions that we'll be exploring across the series.

I had my radio on in the car and there was a report that the Iraqis are on the border and some reports say they are over the border. I was expecting all sorts of delays and all sorts of diversions to go into place. I did see our cabin crew senior security officer, and I told him of my fears. He rushed off and he came back as I was briefing my crew that the Foreign Office had said there is no problem at all.

Clive wasn't the only one to hear these reports. Flight attendant Helen Peters, in her twenties at the time, and in love with her job, was also paying close attention as she packed her bag for the flight.

While I was getting ready, I was watching the news, which was reporting there are a hundred thousand Iraqis on the border. Um so getting ready I thought we know maybe we'd go in and they'll say the c flight was cancelled or w we were gonna be diverted. Yeah, so a bit apprehensive at first, but I th I was pretty sure that British areas weren't going to be putting us into a dangerous situation.

The captain was Richard Brunyate. He was one of British Airways' top pilots with twenty years experience. He had a good understanding of the Middle East. He'd spent part of his childhood in Baghdad and had worked in Lebanon.

Yeah.

Speaking to me back in 2007, he told me that as part of his preparations that day, he insisted on a special security briefing. Very unusual step.

When we got to the briefing room, uh we were given our flight plan, all the normal pieces of paperwork that are involved in getting a jumbo from A to B and I then asked the Flight planner where the special security briefing was with regard to our particular flight. And he said, What security briefing? And I said, Well, haven't you heard the news? There is an Iraqi army about eighty kilometers away from my proposed

So you're playing for time.

I was playing for time in the hope that we would actually receive something concrete about the whole situation at the other end of of our particular flight.

The flight engineer apparently did find a fault that needed fixing. The APU, or auxiliary power unit, which controlled the air conditioning, wasn't working properly.

So Brian, the flight engineer, discovered the APU was unserviceable. They were trying to dispatch us with it unserviceable, and I said, No, let's get it fixed. Which gave me a bit more breathing space to actually pick up some more information about the Original question about security in Kuwait.

Here's Clive Earthy.

There was a problem with the aircraft. It was a genuine one. Some people have said since that it was possibly a false report. But it was not. It was definitely A genuine fault. Talking to Richard during that delay, he did say several times that we won't leave Clive until we are quite sure. Or there isn't any problem en route. So in other words, he was actually delaying everything. As long as he possibly could. The delay took, I believe, two hours, roughly to the floor.

This delay would turn out to be crucial.

We had been given several reasons why we w were late before we boarded the flight. I think we were told the runway was melting. Then we were told something to do with an air conditioning unit. Then I think something about an APU or something, when we boarded the flight, we weren't. We weren't that bothered by it. I think we were more concerned that yes, that might mean we're gonna be late for dinner when we get to Malaysia kind of thing.

Once the fault with the air conditioning unit had been fixed, the passengers boarded and the crew were making their final preparations.

Yeah.

But just before they closed the gate, a group of men arrived at the very last minute. Here's Clive.

They were very late in boarding. They were seated down the back of the aircraft. I I seem to remember seven or eight of them, just young, great looking men.

To Barry, something about them just didn't look right.

They were very super fit looking young men who seemed to be part of a cohesive group, and uh they were wearing what I kind of describe as was um they'd all been to Sports Direct, I suppose. And I just thought that's weird,'cause if they were I I guess that they were w working in an oil rig or something in in the Gulf, you know, and that's what that explained the, you know, the Kuwait sort of thing. But

I made an announcement over the uh PA because one or two passengers had said to me Isn't there problems in Q wait? People in the terminal had been talking about possible problems in QA. And I went on the public address and assured all my passengers that there was nothing to worry about, that if anything did happen, the uh government and the foreign office have Assured us and British Airways that we will be diverted. So, ladies and gentlemen, please sit back and relax.

Relax.

and enjoy the flight.

With the latecomers now on board, most passengers were able to put any concerns about their refueling stop to one side. Here's Burry.

At that point we had worked out that we were going to Kuwait and I was reading the Independent, I think it was, and I th I remember seeing sort of on page eleven That there were Iraqi troops on the Kuwaiti border, that Iraq had an army of a hundred thousand and Kuwait had a had an army of twenty thousand, I think was were the numbers. You know, I was naive. I was a 24-year-old, and I thought, well, we'd chosen BA, we

Ginny felt the same.

We actually saw it on the aircraft thinking that's a bit strange and that's where we're going and that's where we're supposed to be refueling, but I didn't think anything more of it, to be honest.

Anthony was getting some rest, was having a snooze, and then they came round and there was unlimited amounts of free booze. I mean, what's not to like?

Grigor was also enjoying the flight.

as I said, I was so full of emotion and so excited and just looking out the window and just, you know, couldn't wait and I had a Uh thinking of things we're gonna do in this month, uh I was gonna spend one month there. I was just full of pure adventure and energy.

As Flight 149 headed to Kuwait, on the ground it was starting to look like a war movie. The peace talks aimed at resolving the dispute between Kuwait and Iraq had fallen apart.

It's reported that peace talks in the Gulf have collapsed after Kuwait refused to give in to Iraq's demands for money and land. American intelligence experts estimate that around 100,000 Iraqi troops backed up by tanks and artillery have gathered near the Kuwait border.

Saddam Hussein was preparing his next move. His Republican guard were poised on the Kuwaiti border, with tanks and missiles at the ready. According to Captain Richard Brunyate, a message he received was this, proceed as normal.

We'd established that it was okay to land from a not only the ambassador's point of view, but also there was a message from the Foreign Office to say that British Airways are still operating in there, things were normal, don't worry. We established a long range radio link with the airline itself so that they could either contact us, it was a two way system, they had chimes on the flight deck, so they could have actually ding donged us to tell us that things weren't okay.

So we've got Iraqi troops preparing for action. There's an open radio line between the flight deck and London. And yet no warnings are being passed to the captain.

We had a contact with another aircraft in flight that had left Kuwait, the British Airways Tri Star. When we were over Egypt, we contacted them in flight and said, What's the actual situation like? And they said, It was okay. We contacted the airline on the VHF communications, company communications, just prior to landing to see if it was still safe to land. We used the aircraft as a lookout post. We had a good look round before we actually started the descent.

The invasion had actually started several hours beforehand, and there were tanks on the outskirts of the city as you were coming in. Why do you think Kuwait Air Traffic Control didn't warn you?

I now know that um there were Iraqi troops and armour uh in Kuwait City as we m made our approach and landing. Why we weren't told about this by the company, by the embassy via our cell call link with BA. Why the Kuwaiti ATC didn't tell us? I have no idea at all. Somebody for some reason wants that aeroplane to land. And we did.

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So Flight 149 landed in Kuwait. Immediately something slightly odd happened when Clive Earthy opened the door. He was met at the steps of the plane by a mysterious stranger.

A gentleman in uh uniform with a a stick under his uh armpit and said hello sir. I've come to meet some VR. VIPs from your flight and can we get them off straight away please? He said to me You are running very, very late and I said yes that was our technical fault at Heathrow. I thought because I had a royal Kuwaity member in the first class, I assumed it was the Kuwaite person who was the person he was referring to.

The group of men were west off into the night. But who were they? And who was the mysterious stranger? Without the delay at Heathrow, the mean wouldn't have made it on to the plane in time. The decision to fix the air conditioning was a pivotal moment. Clive and his crew then handed over to the next team and headed off to their hotel.

Okay, refueling stop. I didn't think anything strange. Uh and then I was one of those who did go out and walk around a bit and um

So

Yeah, I remember like just walking around. It was a v it was almost deserted, right? I mean it was like four thirty in the morning as well, so I didn't think that was strange either. I thought I was probably very, very few flights right now. So so far I still had nothing I was not suspicious of anything.

It felt really eerie in that it felt like an empty airport and we were the only ones there that had landed because you always see some other airline. There were none. And and it was like a ghost town.

I think the first moment of noticing something was wrong was when after I think we spent it was meant to be an hour, they said, and then come back and g you know, to come back to the plane. But then after an hour they were still not ready or something, and then we were waiting and what's going on until an official uh guard in uniform came over and announced to a group of us sitting there waiting uh and said, uh Kuwait Airport will It will be closed for the next two hours.

The next thing we saw were from two opposite sides of the aircraft. There were two jets. swooping down and then swoop back up again and then we just saw something fall And the next thing we saw was just the we just saw some sand come up. You know, the you know, the debris come up. And before we knew it, uh the passengers that were in the aircraft were screaming and come rushing out of the aircraft and we're standing there going, Oh my god, what the hell's just happening?

What did you think then? You you've got off the plane, he's run off the plane, there's screaming, there's bombing. Did you think that's the Iraqis? Did you know what to think?

So it was funny'cause w after that had happened, the next thing we saw, and I don't know if they were Kuwaiti military, I have no idea, but they were people in uniform. running around at the airport. And I don't know if they were

I wanted to get as far away inside that terminal and as far underground as possible'cause we're being bombed. And I I'd read a lot of military history and and war history and things and and, you know, i common sense says you get underground when you're being bombed. But we weren't allowed to do that, so the stairwell was the the safe what I figured was the safest place.

When they first landed in California, The crew had handed over to the Neeks team. We're meant to take the plane on the second leg. The original crew then headed off to their hotel.

Richard phoned me and said, uh Clive, there's a problem at the airport. and there are Iraqi soldiers all the way around the airport and they've blown up the runway apparently. Oh my god, what a terrible situation.

Flight attendant Helen Peters was next to receive the shocking news.

I'd gone to sleep and I was woken with um a phone call from Clive and he said that Kuwait had been invaded by Iraq and And we weren't flying out anywhere that evening. So yeah, that was the first time I'd heard. And then I I could hear it. I could hear the bombs and the guns and then it was kind of hit you. It was just Yeah, unreal.

It might have felt unreal, but this was really happening. Back at the airport things were not looking good. Here's Grigor.

Not long after that, soldiers came in with their machine guns and started pointing everybody to stand against a wall and line up. And you know, of course many people were f freaking out and getting nervous.

We were told to follow some people in uniform

Amen.

To w and then we went down these steps and then and then there was coaches there waiting for us to take us to they said we're gonna take you all to the airport. Port hotel, you know, because we can't have you all lying here. We don't we're not sure if we can be able to take off ro today itself. So let's put you all up in a hotel, let's see what happens and we'll take it from there. I still didn't know what was going on.

Passengers were herded onto crowded buses and taken to the nearby airport transit hotel. It was chaotic, and there was a constant threat of soldiers armed with machine guns. You could hear the sounds of battle. There wasn't enough space for everyone, and some people were taken to the B. A. Crew Hotel instead, where Clive and Helen were based. After one of the buses had arrived and the passengers had got off, a stewardess got back on to check under the seats for any belongings left on board.

found the uh Iraqi major who spoke perfect English And I explained to him that one of our young ladies had been attacked sexually on the coach from the airport to the hotel. And he he went straight outside and came back with uh two soldiers, two Iraqis, who were both on that coach, and he asked her to identify the one. She did. My Arab speaking steward also identified the same man.

Mm-hmm.

to which the Major then said, So be it, and said something in Arabic to an a another soldier who escorted the guilty guy off, back out front, and on to the army transport vehicle. And it was a little bit later that we heard that uh Der was a bang! And somebody said, That man has been shot. He has been shot. My God.

Next time, on the secret history of Flight 149.

When you see the helicopters come in off the Gulf and they're dropping down uh the Republican Guard. and they're chasing through the streets with machine guns and the tanks are coming through town eating up asphalt and knocking down stop signs. I it's pretty frightening.

My first priority was to make sure Her Majesty's secrets were shredded.

All the tanks were pointing guns at our direction at the hotel. There were just thousands of them.

If the Iraqis don't get you, I I will. I don't want to sound melodramatic, but you know, we're in the situation where, as far as I'm concerned, they're trying to murder my partner.

Why would they keep just us? They're gonna shoot us now?

The Secret History of Flight 149 is a crowd network original. It's presented by me, Stephen Davis. It's produced by Samantha Syk. Sound designers by Rory Ausceri. To get episodes without adverts, subscribe to the Crowd Stories channel on the Apple Podcasts.

Sad.

This series is based on my book Operation Trojan Horse, which tells the full story of Flight 149 and my search for the truth. It's available now in print, ebook, and audiobook. The music we use is from our partners, BMG Production Music. If you want another podcast to listen to, try.com. Series 1 is all about the fascinating world of Wikipedia. Series 2 delves into the world of Reddit, one of the darker and more complex corners of the internet. Search for dot com and subscribe now.

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