Michel Bacos was awarded a medal by the Israeli government for refusing to leave his Jewish passengers behind when the terrorists released their non-Jewish hostages and offered to release Bacos and his crew.
12 Facts About Michel Bacos
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Michel Bacos grew up in Port Said, Egypt, where his father worked as a lawyer at the Suez Canal.
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Michel Bacos was sent to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas where he became a naval aviation pilot.
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On 27 June 1976, Michel Bacos was piloting an Airbus A300 flight from Athens to Paris, originating in Tel Aviv.
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Minutes into the flight, Michel Bacos heard screams and quickly realized that the plane was being hijacked.
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Michel Bacos landed the jet at Entebbe, Uganda, with only 20 minutes' fuel left.
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The captives were freed in an Israeli commando raid known as Operation Entebbe, and Michel Bacos was dazed in the attack.
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In 1976, Michel Bacos was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest decoration in France, by President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
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In June 2008, Michel Bacos was awarded the B'nai B'rith International "Menoras d'Or" in Cannes, France.
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Michel Bacos retired from Air France in 1982, and resided in Nice, France, with his wife.
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Michel Bacos lived in Nice at the time of his death on 26 March 2019.
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Michel Bacos appeared as himself in the 2000 documentary film Operation Thunderbolt: Entebbe.