IT WAS 7pm on 21 December 1988, a wet and miserable winter evening. In the small Dumfriesshire market town of Lockerbie local people were looking forward to Christmas, some wrapping presents and others preparing their dinner. Fourteen-year-old Steven Flannigan had just braved the weather to go to a neighbour's house to set up his present of a new bicycle for his younger sister Joanne.
About 60 miles away, in Prestwick Airport's control tower, air traffic controller Alan Topp was watching his radar screen as Pan American Flight 103 from London to New York - the Clipper Maid of the Seas - crossed the Solway Firth. "Clipper 103 requesting oceanic clearance," First Officer Raymond Wagner said. It was the standard, normal request for aircraft about to cross the Atlantic.
What happened next will forever be remembered as one of the worst tragedies the world has ever known. An explosion blew apart the Boeing 747 as it cruised at 31,000 feet above the Scottish countryside with 243 passengers and 16 crew aboard. The blast sent winds with the force of a tornado through the fuselage, killing many of those on board immediately and effectively blowing the aircraft into pieces. Plane debris and dead passengers were scattered over an area of 845 square miles, from southern Scotland to northern England.
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