Neville Atkinson

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Neville Atkinson was a successful night fighter pilot for the Fleet Air Arm in the Royal Navy. Neville served on the HMS Centaur and piloted Sea Vixen FAW2 fighters. In 1972 Neville left his career in the Navy to take up the position as personal pilot to The President of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.

For the next 10 years his role was to fly Colonel Gadaffi, Government Ministers and many world dignitaries around the Middle East and Africa.

Probably one of the most notable moments in Atkinson’s career was in December 1975, when he was given the task of flying Carlos the Jackal^[1] and a number of other terrorists, with over sixty hostages from the OPEC headquarters in Vienna. It is reputed that Neville asked Carlos to sign a copy of Forsyth’s ‘Day of the Jackal’ during the flight.

In 2006 Neville Atkinson published his first book “Death on Small Wings: Memoirs of a Presidential Pilot” which detailed his experiences during the 1970s as Gadaffi’s personal pilot.