22nd December 1988
Approx 11-45.am

It was a normal day, driving north from England to Scotland.  Normal that is until I started to approach the small town of Lockerbie in Scotland. Driving at 70mph I slowed down and looked over to the other side of the A74 dual carriageway (highway), The first thing I noticed was some burnt-out cars that had been travelling in the opposite direction to me. Then beyond the cars was probably the biggest and deepest hole I'd ever seen, with all sorts of carnage, debris and wrecked houses around it. 

It was only later, when I heard a news report on the car radio, that I realised I'd just witnessed the crash site of Pan Am Flight 103, which had tragically crashed into Lockerbie town barely 15 hours before. 

At the bottom of the video shot_you can just see the main A74 road I was driving on, which somehow the plane just missed.
(I was travelling in the same direction as the helicopter  in the video)
 

 

I pass by Lockerbie (on what is now the M74) when I visit friends and family in Scotland, and I think about Pan Am Flight 103 every time.

9 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I pass by Lockerbie ... and I think about Pan Am Flight 103 every time.

Hi Chris

I'm no big fan of the Sun newspaper, but I see they ran a 'before and after' article a few years back, with some nice shots of 'present-day' Lockerbie showing how time heals.  It will take many years more of course, especially for the residents of the town who still live with the memory of that awful night. 

One thing that struck me in the BBC video though, is how stoic and unemotional the Scottish people being interviewed were, especially the man who had just lost relatives and neighbors in the crash.

'THEN AND NOW' - Lockerbie photos taken 30 years apart show how Scottish town has been reborn after Pan Am terror attack bombing that killed 270 people"

(Includes some before and after photos of the main A74/M74 road)

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/3583930/lockerbie-terror-attack-photos-scotland-bombing-pan-am-plane/

 

PS

I seem to have lost the ability to edit my posts, so here's a couple of the 'before and after' photos from the article that I wanted to include

December 1988

December 2018

I see that they have created a small park at the crash site. It looks nice.

9 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

see that they have created a small park at the crash site. It looks nice.

There’s also a memorial garden and small museum.

I often spend a week drifting around the highlands on my motorbike in summer.

The first time I went through Lockerbie en route I saw the signs for it, and feeling a small connection with fellow 747 crew I felt obliged to stop and pay my respects.

There’s a marble memorial wall with the names of all the passengers , crew , and those on the ground who lost their life.

Reading the ranks and names of the crew it struck me hard that these were just guys turning up for a normal flight, just like I and my friends do , doing the same job, just the same sort of guys I’d exchange comical pleasantries with in the line for security at the airport. 
 

Just a normal night, busy at that stage trying to get their oceanic clearance via vhf, and then, well we all know.

On a more lighthearted note, the curator of the museum was very similar in appearance and mannerisms to the Scottish singer Susan Boyle. While I was trying to read the displays in the small museum she came came over and randomly insisted on showing me some photographs  of squirrels she’d taken, which she referred to her “ wee beasties”