On this day, Feb. 22, in 1975, Samuel Byck shot and killed two people at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in an attempt to hijack and fly a passenger plane into the White House. Byck, 44, shot airport police Officer George Ramsburg before storming a Delta flight to Atlanta. When the pilots told them they couldn’t fly, he shot both men, killing one. Byck order a passenger to fly the plane. Anne Arundel County police Officer Charles Troyer climbed the plane and fired four shots through the aircraft door window. Two shots wounded Byck. Byck turned his gun on himself and fired. Under his body, police found a briefcase gasoline bomb. Before his attack, Byck had released audio tapes announcing his plan, which he dubbed “Operation Pandora’s Box,” to fly a commercial jet airliner to kill President Nixon. He blamed the president for his business failures.
– Scott McCabe
