Not sure why I feel like bringing this up but I thought I’d mention this as it’s the 19th anniversary (21st December 1988) of the bombing of a Pan Am 741 over Lockerbie in the south of Scotland.
A bit like some people say about the shooting of John F Kennedy, I can recall exactly where I was and what I was doing when this happened. I can’t believe it was 2 days after my 18th birthday and that a whole 19 years have passed since the atrocity occurred !
On that day in 1988, I was a first year media student and stacking shelves in the local supermarket in the evenings. I remember a guy in the shop coming up to me, knowing my interest in aviation and telling me he heard on the radio a “jumbo” had crashed in Dumfries. I said “no way” but of course it was true…
A few years later when I got my job in television I met some of the news crews and cameramen who attended the scene and they spoke of dead bodies in the trees and roof tops, and how upsetting it was for all who had to witness the aftermath. On the tenth anniversary of the incident I got lost driving back from Newcastle and ended up coming down into Lockerbie on a snowy December night through the farms that hosted the debris trail and so violently received the nose of the 747 that became the iconic symbol of the tragedy. I remember thinking how eerie it felt and imagined what it must have been like up there ten years earlier.
It still amazes me that people are willing to do the things they do and that innocent people going home for christmas never made it. That’s something that probably will never change in any of our lifetimes, but on this particular anniversary I’d like to offer my condolences to all of those people who lost love ones over and in Lockerbie, and may they find some peace this christmas time…
By: Turbinia - 24th December 2007 at 19:53
I work in Lockerbie (but live south of the border) and most people there don’t want to dwell on it, those who were there know and those who weren’t will never be able to share in it I think, very similar to the attitude of many ex-servicemen.
By: Ren Frew - 22nd December 2007 at 20:10
About 10 Years later I starting doing regular deliveries to Lockerbie,On one occassion I took the back roads to Langholm and what a very eerie place this road was ,I remeber feeling very cold , I started to climb a hill past a Garden of rembrance and a church ,I glanced to My left as I past the church and realised this was the place the cockpit had came to rest , I will never ever forget that feeling that came over me on both ocassions
I think that’s the same road I was on Kevin around the tenth anniversary ? It runs down through the hills past Tundergarth Farm where the nose landed. I’m not superstitious but I felt a cold shiver as I drove past there, it was snowing heavily and the then Mrs Ren was with me too. She was extremely spooked by the experience and that’s from someone even more cynical about that sort of thing than me…
By: kevinwm - 22nd December 2007 at 19:06
I also remmber that night with great Clarity , It came on the news about a plane crash in Dumfieshire , and I remember going to my Bedroom and tuneing in my radio to the Fire brigade , and hearing all these fire engines heading south, I couldnt understand why Fire engines from Glasgow were attending , then when the first Horrific pictures were broadcast
About 10 Years later I starting doing regular deliveries to Lockerbie,On one occassion I took the back roads to Langholm and what a very eerie place this road was ,I remeber feeling very cold , I started to climb a hill past a Garden of rembrance and a church ,I glanced to My left as I past the church and realised this was the place the cockpit had came to rest , I will never ever forget that feeling that came over me on both ocassions
I think we in Scotland are more aware of it now ,as the person jailed for commiting this outrage is about to appeal His sentence
I just Hope the Justice System in Scotland hasnt been duped By the CIA
By: Ren Frew - 22nd December 2007 at 18:26
Good post. Not to nitpick, but the aircraft was N739PA; though of course the event is usually referred to as the loss of “Pan Am 103”. After Lockerbie the flight was renumbered to the wholly different PA 011, on which I flew to JFK in October 1989, on board a rather tired N737PA.
I may have confused things when I referred to “Pan Am 741”, it looks like I meant the flight number and not that I was referring to the aircraft, a 747-100…
By: Short finals - 22nd December 2007 at 18:16
Not sure why I feel like bringing this up but I thought I’d mention this as it’s the 19th anniversary (21st December 1988) of the bombing of a Pan Am 741 over Lockerbie in the south of Scotland.
Good post. Not to nitpick, but the aircraft was N739PA; though of course the event is usually referred to as the loss of “Pan Am 103”. After Lockerbie the flight was renumbered to the wholly different PA 011, on which I flew to JFK in October 1989, on board a rather tired N737PA.
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December 22, 2007 at 1:39 pm