A cold night in December saw Pan Am flight 103 heading from Frankfurt to Detroit – via London and New York. Many of those onboard were heading home to spend Christmas with their families. The flightpath took the plane over the small Dumfries-shire town of Lockerbie. The aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew. Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto a residential street in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 11 people on the ground. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom.
9. Lockerbie-A74 the stolen car that drove through the road block on the night of the disaster 23/12/88
Lockerbie-A74 the stolen car that drove through the road block on the night of the disaster 23/12/88 Photo: ALLAN MILLIGAN
10. Aerial view of Rosebank, Lockerbie after the crash of Pan Am Flight 103. on to the town killing 270 people - all 258 on board and 12 more on ground. From bottom - crater - Sherwood park - Garage/Filling station - Abbatoir with engine - Rosebank.
Aerial view of Rosebank, Lockerbie after the crash of Pan Am Flight 103. on to the town killing 270 people - all 258 on board and 12 more on ground. From bottom - crater - Sherwood park - Garage/Filling station - Abbatoir with engine - Rosebank. Photo: Donald MacLeod
11. RAF servicemen search through the crater in the Borders town of Lockerbie, where Pan Am flight 103, a 747 Jumbo jet, crashed after a bomb exploded on board in December 1988.
RAF servicemen search through the crater in the Borders town of Lockerbie, where Pan Am flight 103, a 747 Jumbo jet, crashed after a bomb exploded on board in December 1988. Photo: Alan Macdonald
12. In this file photo taken on December 22, 1988 the scene of devastation caused by the explosion of a 747 Pan Am Jumbo jet over Lockerbie, that crashed 21 December on the route to New-York, with 259 passengers on board. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members were killed as well as 11 Lockerbie residents. - A posthumous legal challenge to overturn the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmet Al-Megrahi is due to begin in Scotland on November 24, 2020. Megrahi was the only person convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, which was blown up as it travelled from London to New York over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. A total of 270 people from 21 countries were killed -- 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 people on the ground -- in what remains Britain's biggest terrorist attack. (Photo by ROY LETKEY / AFP) (Photo by ROY LETKEY/AFP via Getty Images)
(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 22, 1988 the scene of devastation caused by the explosion of a 747 Pan Am Jumbo jet over Lockerbie, that crashed 21 December on the route to New-York, with 259 passengers on board. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members were killed as well as 11 Lockerbie residents. - A posthumous legal challenge to overturn the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmet Al-Megrahi is due to begin in Scotland on November 24, 2020. Megrahi was the only person convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, which was blown up as it travelled from London to New York over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. A total of 270 people from 21 countries were killed -- 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 people on the ground -- in what remains Britain's biggest terrorist attack. (Photo by ROY LETKEY / AFP) (Photo by ROY LETKEY/AFP via Getty Images) Photo: ROY LETKEY