1988 — Dec 21, Pan Am Flight 103 Blown-Up over Lockerbie, Scotland –(189 U.S.) 270

lornajarrettblanchard December 21, 1988

–270 Dept. of Transport (UK). Aircraft Accident Report 2/90… 8-6-1990, p. 1.

–270 NationMaster.com, Encyclopedia, “Pan Am Flight 103.” (259 on plane and 11 on ground).

–270 Smith, John Barry. AAR, Pan Am Flight 103 Part I…Probable Causes. May 2002, p. 2.

–270 Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. (259 on plane and 11 Lockerbie residents).

–Crew 16 ( 11 U.S.)

–Passengers 243 (178 U.S.)

–Lockerbie residents 11

–270 Washington Post. “The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.” 1999. (plane, 259; ground, 11).

>260 Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. “The Lockerbie bombing.” 1992, p. 25.

Breakout of U.S. Fatalities by State of Residence or Birth (where noted)[1]

Arkansas — 1

California — 8[2]

Colorado — 1

Connecticut — 7

Florida — 1

Kansas — 1

Illinois — 1

Maryland — 8

Massachusetts –13

Michigan –14

Minnesota — 2

New Hampshire — 2

New Jersey –33

New York –54

North Dakota — 1

Ohio — 7

Pennsylvania — 9

Rhode Island — 2

Texas — 4

Virginia — 2

Washington, DC — 1

West Virginia — 1

Not noted or unclear –16

Narrative Information

Dept. of Transport (UK): “Synopsis: The accident was notified to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch at 19:40 hrs on the 21 December 1988 and the investigation commenced that day…

“The aircraft, Flight PA103 from London Heathrow to New York, had been in level cruising flight at flight level 310 (31,000 feet) for approximately seven minutes when the last secondary radar return was received just before 19.03 hrs. The radar then showed multiple primary returns fanning out downwind. Major portions of the wreckage of the aircraft fell on the town of Lockerbie with other large parts landing in the countryside to the east of the town….

“Within a few days items of wreckage were retrieved upon which forensic scientists found conclusive evidence of a detonating high explosive….The report concludes that the detonation of an improvised device led directly to the destruction of the aircraft with the loss of all 259 persons on board and 11 of the residents of the town of Lockerbie….”

NationMaster.com: “Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways’ third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London‘s Heathrow International Airport to New York‘s John F. Kennedy International Airport. On December 21, 1988, the aircraft flying this route…named Clipper Maid of the Seas, was destroyed by a bomb, and the remains landed in and around the town of Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland….The explosion punched a 20-inch-wide (0.5 m) hole, almost directly under the P in Pan Am, on the left side of the fuselage. The disintegration of the aircraft was rapid. Investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) of the British Department of Transport concluded that the nose of the aircraft separated from the main section within three seconds of the explosion…. Image File history File links PA103_graphic_1. … Image File history File links PA103_graphic_2. … Image File history File links PA103_graphic_3. …

“The inquest heard that the flight attendant was alive when found by a farmer’s wife, but died before her rescuer could summon help. A male passenger was also found alive, and medical authorities believe he might have survived had he been found earlier…

“In the subsequent investigation of the crash, forensic experts determined that about 1 lb (450 g) of plastic explosive had been detonated in the airplane’s forward cargo hold, triggering a sequence of events that led to the rapid destruction of the aircraft. Winds of 100 knots (190 km/h) scattered victims and debris along an 81 mile (130 km) corridor over an area of 845 square miles…The death toll was 270 people from 21 countries, including 11 people in Lockerbie….

“Known as the Lockerbie bombing and the Lockerbie air disaster in the UK, it became the subject of Britain’s largest criminal inquiry, led by its smallest police force, Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. The bombing was widely regarded as an assault on a symbol of the United States, and with 189 of the victims being Americans, it stood as the deadliest terrorist attack against the United States until the September 11, 2001 attacks. Map showing the council areas of Scotland with Dumfries and Galloway highlighted. …

“After a three-year joint investigation by the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, during which 15,000 witness statements were taken, indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on April 5, 1999 to Scottish police at Camp Zeist, Netherlands, chosen as a neutral venue. This work is copyrighted. …

”On January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Fhimah was acquitted. Megrahi’s appeal against his conviction was refused on March 14, 2002, and his application to the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible in July 2003. On September 23, 2003, Megrahi applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission…for his conviction to be reviewed, and for his case to be referred back to the High Court for a fresh appeal. On June 28, 2007, the SCCRC announced its decision to refer the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal after it found he “may have suffered a miscarriage of justice. Megrahi is serving his sentence in Greenock Prison, where he continues to profess his innocence….

“Thirty-five students from Syracuse University and two from the State University of New York at Oswego were on board, flying home from overseas study in London.” HMP Greenock serves designated courts in western Scotland by holding male prisoners (both adult and under 21s) on remand, and short-term convicted prisoners. … (NationMaster.com, Encyclopedia, “Pan Am Flight 103.”)

Smith: “….An unlucky placement. The people on board PanAm 103 will never know how unlucky they were: the bomb had by chance been loaded alongside a stressed riveted seam in the fuselage, and when it exploded this seam ripped like paper, causing instant decompression and tearing the aircraft apart before the crew had the chance to send any message. One of the senior investigators said: ‘If the bomb had been placed almost anywhere else, it might have killed half a dozen people or just shredded some bags.’ The people of Lockerbie were similarly unlucky. The bomb should have gone off over the sea…but because of the aircraft’s delayed departure and the strong winds, the plane took a more northerly track than usual for the first part of the flight, and was still over land when the device exploded.” (Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh and New York: W & R Chambers, 1992, p. 26)

Sources

Department of Transport (UK). Aircraft Accident Report 2/90: Report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988. Farnborough: Dept. of Transport, Air Accidents Investigation Branch, Royal Aerospace Establishment. 8-6-1990. Accessed 7-8-2016 at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f36ee5274a1317000489/2-1990_N739PA.pdf

Los Angeles Times (Laurie Becklund). “5 Victims of Pan Am Crash: Young Southlanders in Fiery Death.” 12-24-1988. Accessed 7-9-2016 at: http://articles.latimes.com/1988-12-24/news/mn-528_1_fiery-crash

NationMaster.com. Encyclopedia. “Pan Am Flight 103.” Accessed 12-17-2008 at: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Pan-Am-Flight-103

Smith, John Barry. Aircraft Accident Report, Pan Am Flight 103 Part I, Consideration of Reasonable Probable Causes: Report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriessshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988 by John Barry Smith, Independent Aircraft Accident Investigator. May 2002, 383 pages. Accessed 7-8-2016 at: http://www.ntsb.org/Wiringcargodoor/home_files/SmithAAR103fffallpartapA-N.pdf

Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh and New York: W & R Chambers, 1992.

Syracuse.com (Mike McAndrew). “Pan Am Flight 103’s victims: A list of those killed 25 years ago.” 12-21-2013. Accessed 7-9-2016 at: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/pan_am_flight_103s_victims_a_list_of_those_killed_25_years_ago.html

Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. Accessed 12-1-2012: http://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/victims

Washington Post. “The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.” 1999. Accessed 12-1-2012 at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/panam103/timeline.htm

[1] Derived from listing of victims in: Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. This list at times notes that an American was living abroad. In such cases we have attempted further research to establish where the victim was born.

[2] Information on one victim, Diane Boatman-Fuller is from: Los Angeles Times (Laurie Becklund). “5 Victims of Pan Am Crash: Young Southlanders in Fiery Death.” 12-24-1988. Article notes she was born in Detroit, moved to Los Angeles in 1981 to teach English at the Hollywood Hight School of Performing Arts, and had recently left for Paris and London seeking to find backers for a play she had written.