It was Bombed!

As I recall it was 1954 or perhaps 1955 when my close friend, neighbor and school mate lost his Grandmother in the crash of an airliner. Perhaps it was a DC-6 which was the hot ride in those days.

You see the plane exploded in flight and all aboard perished.

It was Bombed!

Later it was found that a husband had sent his wife off with a Bomb in her suitcase that was loaded aboard the plane with all the other luggage.

It was Murder!

However, rather than fly on the plane and trigger the device himself, the husband had used a common, every day, Weather Barometer as a triggering device.

As the plane ascended the air pressure dropped and the barometer needle moved in one direction. However, when the plane descended the air pressure increased which caused the barometer needle to reverse itself and then . . . BOOM!

In fact there was a movie made about such a flight and such a bomb. That was when (as I recall) a crafty actor (perhaps Jimmy Stewart) opted to land the plane at the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado and thus defeat the triggering device as the needle didn't move far enough to set off the bomb.

Hate to remind everybody, but such a device is easily constructed today and as we know . . . not all baggage is inspected before a flight.

Oh yes, I fully expect the Radical Moslems have access to old movies and are well aware of this concept.

I thought it best you did as well.