Today marks 33 years since the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. The disaster involving a New York-bound 747 is the deadliest terrorist attack ever to have taken place in the UK. The jet’s wreckage rained down on Lockerbie, Scotland, which has caused the event to become known as the Lockerbie Bombing. Let’s take a look at the incident and its developments.
The flight in question
Pan Am flight 103 was a regular scheduled transatlantic service that incorporated the busy London-New York corridor. However, the route in full took it from Frankfurt to Detroit via London Heathrow and New York JFK. Interestingly, the aircraft used changed en route, with a Boeing 727 operating the initial leg from Frankfurt to London Heathrow’s Terminal 3.
Upon arriving in London, the passengers, luggage, and cargo were transferred from the 727 to a larger 747-100. On December 21st, 1988, the 747 in question bore the registration N739PA, and the name Clipper Maid of the Seas. N739PA was just the 15th 747 built, and it was 18 years old at the time. It had arrived in London from Los Angeles via San Francisco.
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The 747 was due to depart at 18:00, and left Heathrow more or less on time, pushing back at 18:04. It took to the skies at 18:25, and within an hour, tragedy would strike.
How did the bombing unfold?
The story of the bombing itself didn’t originate in Frankfurt, like the flight it blew out of the sky. Instead, investigations into the accident concluded that the bomb was first loaded onto an aircraft in a suitcase in Malta, before being transferred onto the Pan Am flight in Frankfurt. Just before 19:03, it exploded in the aircraft’s forward cargo hold.
The explosion blew a 50 cm hole in the left of N739PA’s fuselage. The impact was made greater by the uncontrolled decompression resulting from the pressurized fuselage being exposed to the air outside it. This caused the plane’s pitch to arc downwards, while also turning left. It broke apart as it fell, with wreckage spread over a mile within eight seconds.
The plane’s wreckage rained down on the Scottish town of Lockerbie and its surroundings. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members perished in the disaster. 11 Lockerbie residents also met this tragic fate, when part of the jet’s wing hit houses in Sherwood Crescent. This brought the total death toll to 270, making it the UK’s deadliest terrorist attack.
Recent developments
A three-year UK-US investigation resulted in the issuing of arrest warrants for two Libyan men. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that they were handed over. Two years later, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing, and jailed for life. After being released on compassionate grounds due to contracting prostate cancer in 2009, he died in May 2012.
In recent years, there have been further developments in the story of the Lockerbie bombing. While the initial trial found al-Megrahi guilty and acquitted his co-defendant Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the US issued new charges in December 2020. It announced these against a third suspect, with US Attorney General William Barr stating that:
“No amount of time or distance will stop the United States, and its partners in Scotland, from pursuing justice in this case. (…) For those of us who remember that tragic event, the iconic images of its aftermath (…) are forever seared in our memories.”
In memory of the victims of Pan Am flight 103.
