Edmonton aircraft bombing

Part of the Opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam

Location	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Date	January 28, 1965
Attack type	Bombing, Shooting
Deaths	1
Perpetrator	Harry Waldeman, Freidrich Hubach

On January 28, 1965 around 2:30 a.m., a man bombed three American warplanes being retrofitted at an airport in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Background

The United States Air Force had flown 112 aircraft to the Edmonton Industrial Airport, where they were to be repaired by Northwest Industries.

Although initial reports pointed out that 15 of the planes had run spy missions over post-Revolution China, the attack was said to be in protest of the Vietnam War. It is believed to have been one of the first attacks ever citing the involvement of the U.S. in the Vietnam War as its motive.

Attack

A security guard, Threnton James Richardson, was bound, gagged, and then shot with a rifle, when the perpetrator entered the airport.

Two F-84 jets were destroyed, and a third heavily damaged by the bombing.

Following the attack, an unemployed German immigrant, Harry Waldeman Freidrich Hubach, was arrested by police and charged with the murder of the security guard.

Hubach was found guilty and sentenced to hang. But upon appeal and a new trial he pleaded guilty to non-capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Released, he turned his life around, married and ran a successful business, finally dying around 2005 in Kingston, Ontario.

References

CBC News Edmonton's terrorist attack: the 1965 airport bombing , Jan. 26, 2014

Edmonton Journal, “Jan. 28, 1965: Edmonton man charged with murder, sabotage”, January 28, 2015

Edmonton Disaster Timetable City of Edmonton

Ross, Jeffrey Ian. “Violence in Canada”, 2004. p. 300

Los Angeles Times, 3 US jets dynamited, guard slain in Canada, January 29, 1965.

Maryland Morning Herald, “Guard killed in Canadian sabotage try”, January 29, 1965

San Antonio Express, “US Jets Blasted in Canada”, January 29, 1965

Press Courier, “US jets blown up, immigrant charged with killing guard”, January 29, 1965.

CBC News Edmonton 1965 airport bombing: the untold story , Jan. 28, 2014

Subject headings

Bombing –