Remember my mate, in his early weeks of Policing being called up there to search the golf course. Found some things in the dark that he'll never forget.
Thoughts with those affected.
My late brother was called out that night & returned home on Christmas Eve night, returning a day later. He was a member of SARDA (Search & Rescue Dog Assocation).
When the Lockerbie disaster happened, they were summoned to the scene. None of them had ever dealt with the horrors of a plane-crash disaster before.
My father in law was the lead police officer.
He very rarely talks about what he saw.
I was at my office Xmas do when someone came in and said a plane had crashed onto the A74. We all thought it had been a forced landing.....until we got home.
And to think the culprits are still at large....
I remember sitting watching Dr Who that night and hearing all of the sirens as the local emergency services headed up to Lockerbie. I can even remember my Mother saying that it must've been a bad accident on the M6 for that number of ambulances and fire engines to be heading up there 🙁
Once I started work I used to drive through Lockerbie quite often, it was always a strange feeling passing through there after seeing the footage on TV of the aftermath.
We were watching Des OConnor when it happened, Dad saw a flaming object across the horizon, we lived in Annan about 10 miles from Lockerbie. We first thought it was an incident at Chapelcross, the nuclear power plant (maybe cold war paranoia?) Then the news broke, it was frightening for a young kid anyway, but particularly as Papa lived in Lockerbie. We couldn't get through to him on the phone and feared the worst as he lived very near Sherwood Crescent. We drove through the next day to see if he was ok and the scene was horrendous, the town was in bits. People were there to look, take things, etc... It was macabre. We got through the police roadblock after a bit of explanation, drove along the high street, which stank of fuel and the windows were all broken everywhere. Got to Papa's house, he was sitting with the camping stove on and was drinking a cup of tea, we were so lucky, but others were not.
Thoughts with all those families not as lucky as we were, and the Emergency services, local authority and volunteers who saw things that no one should. Lots of the local council guys helped out with removing body parts and didn't get counselling, and live with the effects still.
Tundergarth church has a memorial room, which my Dad built, it's where the cockpit landed and is worth a visit if you are interested and in the area.
And to think the culprits are still at large....
Or dead. I doubt we'll ever really know who did it, too political a subject for the truth to be allowed to get in the way of deal brokering.
This is definitely one where the conspiracy theorists might have a point. Some of the goings on in the saga are odd to say the least. Certain people be dissuaded from taking that flight apparently. Some odd-bods at the crash site acting oddly as well.
Nothing should deflect from the fact that a great many innocent people lost their lives, but this one should definitely be looked at again IMO.
Remember my mate, in his early weeks of Policing being called up there to search the golf course. Found some things in the dark that he'll never forget.
I read an article in the guardian the other day, and this was the opening quote:
"This piece of … a greyish, pinkish, 10-inch lump … I looked at it closely and then I realised it was a big piece of skin. I didnae really look at anything too closely after that. There was a Bible lying beside it. The pages were fluttering."
Pretty chilling stuff...
My dad was flying up to Scotland on business the night of the Lockerbie bombing. I remember seeing a news flash stating that a plane had exploded over Scotland. My mum and I waited nervously for the 9 o'clock news to come on with further details hoping it wasn't his plane. Still feel guilty at the sense of relief I felt when we found out it was a transatlantic flight and not a domestic one.
He apparently flew over Lockerbie about 15 minutes after it happened although he knew nothing about it until his plane landed.
Spent that evening with Australian friends who were due to fly back the next day, I switched on the telly as we cleared up and this awful silence came down as the news came through. It was a truly awful thing. My friend in Lothian and Borders Police was called in for the search, it shocked him to the core and he left the police a year later.
Such a tragedy. As was the Iranian Airbus flight not long before. I remember Lockerbie so, so clearly. I cannot imagine how harrowing it must have been for those services on the ground in the aftermath. I have heard that a few people survived the explosion and fall but died on the ground.
So sad that the lust for power and politics on all sides costs people their lives.
Thinking of those who suffered due to the events at Lockerbie.
Watched the news of this unfold while in New Zealand, which was somewhat surreal.
I know 'Heavy' Whalley a bit, the SAR chap that had a lead role in the search -- even though they were military, and trained to recover personnel, it was on a scale unimaginable.
Just such a tragic episode.
We lived in the NE, I was a bit too young to remember it all but my dad said he was finding bits of books etc. over the farm for the days after. My aunt worked in airline catering at the time and was involved with loading the food onto the plane at Heathrow so spent a fair bit of time being interviewed.
Quite a chilling reminder of how the world was and how it still is in some places.
A colleague was on the flight, he'd only booked last minute in order be with his family at Christmas. The stories which where told about the aftermath on the groud I've never forgotten. I can't really imagine how it must of been first hand.
@jamj neither have I forgotten the footage from the bridge of the USS vessel which shot down the airbus.
