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From the Wall Street Journal
On Sept. 12, 1994, a man named Frank Eugene Corder crashed a small plane into the South Lawn of the White House. Corder died, but no one else was hurt. In response, the Secret Service conducted a "White House security review" and issued a public report, an appendix to which contains this startling historical note:
Samuel Byck, a failed businessman with a history of mental illness, was investigated by the Secret Service in 1972 on the basis of reports that he had threatened President Nixon. In 1974, he hatched a plan called "Operation Pandora's Box" to hijack a commercial airliner and crash it into the Executive Mansion. On February 22, . . . Byck went to Baltimore/Washington International Airport carrying a pistol and a gasoline bomb. He forced his way onto a Delta flight destined for Atlanta by shooting a guard at the security checkpoint. He entered the cockpit and ordered the crew to take off. After the crew informed him that they could not depart without removing the wheel blocks, Byck shot the pilot twice and the co-pilot three times (the co-pilot died). Police outside the airplane shot into the cockpit and hit Byck twice. Byck fell to the floor, put the revolver to his head, and killed himself.
The Dallas Morning News appears to be the only news organization to have linked the Byck case to Sept. 11 (alas, its Oct. 12 piece on the subject doesn't appear to be on its Web site). Byck was a character in the 1990 Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins," a Broadway revival of which was to have opened in November but was canceled in the wake of Sept. 11.
On Sept. 12, 1994, a man named Frank Eugene Corder crashed a small plane into the South Lawn of the White House. Corder died, but no one else was hurt. In response, the Secret Service conducted a "White House security review" and issued a public report, an appendix to which contains this startling historical note:
Samuel Byck, a failed businessman with a history of mental illness, was investigated by the Secret Service in 1972 on the basis of reports that he had threatened President Nixon. In 1974, he hatched a plan called "Operation Pandora's Box" to hijack a commercial airliner and crash it into the Executive Mansion. On February 22, . . . Byck went to Baltimore/Washington International Airport carrying a pistol and a gasoline bomb. He forced his way onto a Delta flight destined for Atlanta by shooting a guard at the security checkpoint. He entered the cockpit and ordered the crew to take off. After the crew informed him that they could not depart without removing the wheel blocks, Byck shot the pilot twice and the co-pilot three times (the co-pilot died). Police outside the airplane shot into the cockpit and hit Byck twice. Byck fell to the floor, put the revolver to his head, and killed himself.
The Dallas Morning News appears to be the only news organization to have linked the Byck case to Sept. 11 (alas, its Oct. 12 piece on the subject doesn't appear to be on its Web site). Byck was a character in the 1990 Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins," a Broadway revival of which was to have opened in November but was canceled in the wake of Sept. 11.
