30 years ago

"someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired) 12/21/2018 at 13:05 • Filed to: None

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Clipper Maid of the Seas in 1986

Clipper Maid of the Seas pulled away from the gate at London Heathrow. Loaded in a cargo container in the forward hold was a device hidden in a Toshiba Bombeat boombox. 54 minutes later it would crash into the village of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board and 11 on the ground. Pan Am would be gone a few years later, mostly as a result of this incident, and a 30 year, mostly futile attempt to get justice for the victims and their families would follow. For the anniversary, t he FBI has put together a huge m ini-site on the case , which you can find here:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Here’s a 1978 documentary with lots of clips of N739PA (then called Clipper Morning Light) showing it in happier times:

Svend > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 13:34

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I remember it quite well from when I was a kid with Lockerbie being just 25 miles from where I live. Police, fire engines and ambulances were sent as mutual aid from my city to assist. Some casualties were brought to Carlisle hospital to ease pressure on the Scottish hospitals.

A lot of Scottish people were angry that the Scottish government released the guy on compassionate grounds from prison because he had one year to live (he went to live on for three more years). Most thought he should of died in prison. 

facw > Svend 12/21/2018 at 13:51

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There was also the speculation that the release was linked to oil deals with Libya being negotiated by BP and the UK around thew same time. There’s no hard evidence for that, but there enough circumstantial evidence that you can’t just dismiss it either.

Svend > facw 12/21/2018 at 14:05

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Ye’, the British government weren’t happy the Scottish government were going to release him and especially as they weren’t even told or even discussed between the two governments.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 14:38

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The man responsible for bringing the Golf GTI to the U.S. w as on that flight.

someassemblyrequired > Svend 12/21/2018 at 14:57

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I can imagine, especially with the damage on the ground, and the fact that there were potential survivors. It’s long been rumoured a few were found alive by bystanders, but sadly didn’t make it until they could be rescued. That’s never been officially confirmed, but I’ve heard it from a bunch of sensible people not prone to hyperbole.

Yeah the release of that guy seemed to be a bit of a ridiculous situation, he deserved the amount of mercy he granted to those poor folks.   Which is precisely none.

someassemblyrequired > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/21/2018 at 15:05

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Yeah James Fuller and Lou Marengo, their marketing director , were on board. Fuller was at Ford in the 70s, and also worked at AMC before running Porsche-Audi in the early 80s. Marengo was only in his early-30s when the crash happened and had rapidly climbed the ladder at VW .

IIRC 505 Turbeaux wrote up a blurb on their efforts to bring over the Rallye Golf ( https://oppositelock.kinja.com/how-getting-the-vw-golf-rallye-in-the-us-died-with-pan-1543238670 ) , though VW did bring over the Passat and Corrado that they were both pushing VW to start selling in the U.S. .

Svend > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 15:20

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While Dumfries hospital is only a third of the distance from Lockerbie than that of Carlisle. The Dumfries hospital’s A&E ( U.K. Emergency Room) is small. Carlisle’s is bigger and all motorway miles.

Though Lockerbie is up in Scotland, we are the largest city for some miles so much of south west Scotland comes to Carlisle to shop or work so we are quite close to and have friends up there so it was quite a shock when it happened.

I remember it not quite seeming real, because it was on the TV, but stuff like that just didn’t happen here, it was all the adults talked about but... I was, I don’t know. Like living part of a film or tv series. 

someassemblyrequired > Svend 12/21/2018 at 15:56

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That makes good sense, as you’d also be able to keep heading down the M6 if Carlisle was overwhelmed. It doesn’t suprise me that the ties between Carlisle and the Southwest of Scotland are close given that it’s quite a distance to other major centres on both sides of the border.

It’s always strange when these kinds of things happen close to home, Swissair 111 went down close to where I grew up and it was strange to see familiar spots mired in tragedy.

Svend > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 16:41

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If Carlisle was overwhelmed they would of gone north west up to Glasgow, or east over to Newcastle.

When it’s close to home it’s hard to comprehend. 

ranwhenparked > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 18:56

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Pan Am has had quite a zombie afterlife though. The most recent user of Pan American Airways name , a cargo airline, shut down in 2012 after their CEO was convicted for child porn.; and a spinoff of the ‘90s revival, PAWA Dominicana (Pan American World Airways Dominicana) went bankrupt and shut down only this year.

someassemblyrequired > ranwhenparked 12/21/2018 at 22:37

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You can imagine my surprise when I saw a boxcar like this one trundling along on the little line behind our house in Connecticut :

By User:BMRR - User:BMRR, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1157910

ranwhenparked > someassemblyrequired 12/21/2018 at 23:15

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Yeah, that was when Guil ford Transportation decided to exploit the Pan Am trademark for every penny of its value and just rebranded their whole company. Guilford Rail Systems became Pan Am Railways, and they started a big brand licensing operation that led to the line of luggage I think you can still find for sale in airports. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > someassemblyrequired 12/22/2018 at 05:31

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went to the L ockerbie cemetery back in ‘96 when i was in Scotland, nd i recall seeing on the memorial the name Om Dikshit

it’s the one name i remember from it