Lockerbie wreckage to go on display…

Thought I’d share this picture from today’s BBC Scotland News site…

“A member of the public visits the Lockerbie Memorial in southern Scotland. On Sunday it will be 20 years since a terrorist bomb caused Pan AM Flight 103 to crash onto the town, killing 11 residents and 259 people on the plane. Picture by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images”

We are but days away from the 20th anniversary of the incident. 20 years on I still can’t quite comprehend why people did what they did ? I was just 18 years old and I’ll be “just” 38 in a day or two. Lockerbie still scares me.

Happy Birthday then. 🙂

Hard to believe that Lockerbie was that long ago. It’s even harder to think that 9/11 was 7 years ago. Events like these touch and effect people around the globe even if they weren’t there are directly involved. It seems to be human nature to try and connect with the places, people and things that where there that day as it gives some sense of closure and better understand if that makes sense. I made it to Ground Zero the May following 9/11 and even though most of the debris had been cleared it felt important to see the remains in person even if it’s only small pieces. Locherbie is the same way, something about seeing a small piece of the 747 would bring things full circle in someways even though I live an ocean away then and now.

There’s plenty of stuff like this about in the public domain – countless holocaust museums…reminders of a brutal past and pointers for a brighter future…

I was just about to say this. The only one I’ve visited is the one in Berlin, but it is as good an example as any. Massive effort (in terms of architecture, research and exhibition pieces) has been made to highlight the atrocity of times past. Considering the holocaust is probably one of the largest tragedies of times past, people have not held back from remembering those lost in an appropriate manner.

I think if done correctly, a similar thought provoking display/remembrance to Lockerbie would work well.

I don’t see why this kind of stuff can’t be put on display – lest we forget.

It’s a piece of modern history that’s still very relevant today – if just one person sees it and gets a new perspective on the value of human life and folly of meaningless atrocity then it’s served it’s purpose (as a museum piece) to inform and educate.

I understand the macabre aspect to it too and I’m not sure I would rush to see this exhibit but I cannot understand the mentality of wanting to put this stuff away in a box forever. I doubt doing that will help the families heal their wounds more easily. Maybe it could even be a comforting place to visit to be with their loved ones. Humans are a strange lot – why do relatives always flock to the place where their loved ones perished – sometimes year after year.

Thankfully I’ve never been in a similar position but I suspect I would want the world to see the reality of what went on, hoping it had an effect on people.

There’s plenty of stuff like this about in the public domain – countless holocaust museums, bits of the WTC on the American Chopper Fire bike, a Propeller from the Lusitania quietly corroding away in a corner of the Albert Dock in Liverpool… reminders of a brutal past and pointers for a brighter future…

IMHO the difference to the Titanic is: the loss of the Titanic was an accident. The Lockerbie bombing was cold-blooded murder. However, I have seen artifacts from the Wilhelm Gustloff on display in a German maritime museum. The display probably would have been better, if there had not been original items from the ship included.

Peter

Having worked at the site about 8 hours after the aircraft came down, I also have very vivid memories of scene.
Like others have said it is something in Scottish history and I feel it should never be forgotten, another reminder of the destruction humans can wreak on thier fellow humans.

I’m sure if the families agree to the exhibit, it will be a tasteful and suitable display.

Ray.

The date of the Lockerbie bombing was not December 18, 1988… it was December 21st.

Ken Sanford – aerophil
Former Pan Am employee

Correct Ken, I’ve no idea why I wrote that ? I do have vivid memories of that evening. :confused:

Take a look at the historic forum with all the interest in flying and static war machines from both sides of the war(s).

A good and valid point Bill.

We are but days away from the 20th anniversary of the incident. 20 years on I still can’t quite comprehend why people did what they did ? I was just 18 years old and I’ll be “just” 38 in a day or two. Lockerbie still scares me.

Hmmm… My own feeling about the museum exhibit is that it should go ahead, there’s quite a few local lads I know that attended the scene on the night and would like to pay their respects now, but not in Lockerbie itself. A difficult call but ought to be done, if even for a short time.

How macabre!! I dare say some of the relatives aren’t too impressed

Take a look at the historic forum with all the interest in flying and static war machines from both sides of the war(s).

I believe the vast majority of the wreckage is still in a scrapyard in Lincolnshire?!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-490284/19-years-Lockerbie-plane-debris-rotting-away-scrapyard.html

Aerial view here

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan-turnbull/secret4.htm#lockerbie

TJ

Difficult thing to decide upon ain’t it?

As soon as I read the first post here I thought of this photo taken by fellow forum member Si Jones.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonjones/439068590/sizes/o/

I think the problem is that it could be taken so many different ways by so many different people. Personally I have to agree with Allen in that if it were done tastefully and respectfully, it could be a very powerful and thought provoking display. Personally I find it incredibly difficult to get my head around the fact that bit of fuselage used to be part of a huge and spectacularly beautiful machine that soared through the skies, and it’s ended up as a twisted reminder of death and terror. I find it even harder to comprehend a pair of Human eyes were probably looking through that very window at the time the aircraft impacted. That thought I genuinely find really quite deeply disturbing, but for some reason I would still like to see that exhibit and I’d like to see a display dedicated to Pan Am 103. I have no idea, I just would.

I know Si’s generally quite a busy chap, but maybe if he pops by he could explain how he felt when he saw the 9/11 display?

Paul

RE The Lockerbie Crash Site..

the actual site where the aircraft went down…my uncle travelled right past, a few hours before the tragedy, he was telling me a few weeks ago on the way up to scotland…he could have been another casualty in something that should never have happened..quite scary to think of the fact he could have been involved too

Lockerbie wreckage to go on display

The date of the Lockerbie bombing was not December 18, 1988… it was December 21st.

Ken Sanford – aerophil
Former Pan Am employee

Close your eyes and think of Lockerbie. Which image is the first in your mind? Would that be the piece they are thinking of showing? A very powerful and emotive image I think you would agree. That would be the most customer pulling and thought provoking exhibit I think, but……. not sure how I would feel about that.
I took a relative of a Lancaster crew member ((John Sills Rr Gunner) that crashed near to us in Wednesfield in ’45), to East Kirkby, after he had been to a memorial service here in wednesfield that we had organised for the 60th anniversary of the crash. He found visiting the Airfield his father was from was wonderful, but found the remains of the various pieces of other fatal accident wreckage in the hanger a bit disturbing. I think it was the fact that a nice green field with bluebells now covers the Lancs crash site and the sight of recovered wreckage somehow brought home the violence of his fathers death.

Edit: The late Bill Hicks once said, “how do you think Jesus would feel if he came back to life and saw us all wearing crucifixes….?? It would be like walking up to Jackie Kennedy wearing a rifle pendant….”

Difficult thing to decide upon ain’t it?

I’m guessing if they do display anything, it’ll ony be a 4 foot segement of tail and a seat perhaps. Maybe the odd dial from the cockpit.

I very much doubt there will be anything they’ll display (other than a photo) that will let you see the general shape of the aircraft or such. Just a few bits and pieces.

If so, I do not see anything macbre about it, and as long as the families OK it, why not?!

It’s all relative – I wonder what any family members of the Titanic deceased would feel about her being plundered for parts. I have seen some of the Lockerbie wreckage in storage – the fin remains with the U.S flag is particularily saddening. However if the families in the case of the Pan Am Clipper agree to it going on display why not ? Certainly the parts of her are shocking but so was what happened to those poor souls. The events at Lockerbie are part of Scottish history – maybe by being thought provoking and a little stark we can honour those who died one cold night over Scotland.

I think if it’s done right and presented sensibly it could become a very moving and poignant attraction. I think rarther than somewhere for the ghoulish to gather, it might (hopefully) be seen as somewhere to have a quiet reflective moment. A bit like visiting a shrine or war memorial, Pearl Harbor have managed it rarther well I gather..

It’s all relative – I wonder what any family members of the Titanic deceased would feel about her being plundered for parts. I have seen some of the Lockerbie wreckage in storage – the fin remains with the U.S flag is particularily saddening. However if the families in the case of the Pan Am Clipper agree to it going on display why not ? Certainly the parts of her are shocking but so was what happened to those poor souls. The events at Lockerbie are part of Scottish history – maybe by being thought provoking and a little stark we can honour those who died one cold night over Scotland.

How macabre!! I dare say some of the relatives aren’t too impressed