Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Alex Smith
Alex Smith, a retired detective of the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, lived in the Lockerbie neighborhood of Sherwood Crescent, which sustained multiple casualties when pieces of the bombed Pan Am Flight 103 landed on several houses there.
Video Transcript
You probably know the characteristics: This thing is flying at 30-odd-thousand feet with 140-mile-an-hour crosswind. So, at the actual point of explosion, it fragments. And it was the main fuselage of the plane that came down in Sherwood Park. But on impacting with the ground, it actually blew up again, and everything went back up in the air. So, for those of us on the ground, it was initial impact, horrendous crash, and then minutes later, the fallout. It was earth and rubble and parts of the aircraft just falling back to the ground again. And so, in all it took about five to six minutes for the whole impact scenario to play through.
For all the worst possible reasons it was on the world map, you know? Scotland’s a pretty small country. If you travel abroad, people will say, “Where are you from?” Scotland, yeah. And they probably know the name of two major cities—Glasgow or Edinburgh. And they say, “Glasgow, Edinburgh.” But now we go abroad and, “Where are you from?” Scotland. “Where about?” Lockerbie. “Oh, we’ve all heard of Lockerbie.” Yeah. Again, for all the wrong reasons. So it put Lockerbie on the map, and hopefully Lockerbie has responded to that. Well, I know they have. They’ve embraced what happened to us. And although they would just quietly like to get along with business and don’t make a fuss about it, the fact that some quite poignant memorials have been erected and the dignity of the whole disaster has been kept intact. Quite, quite proud of the Lockerbie people, actually.
Video Download
Video Source
Recent Video
- 05.18.2023 — Beware of Elder Fraud Scams
- 05.12.2023 — Director Wray's 2023 National Police Week Address
- 05.10.2023 — Inside the FBI Podcast: Oasis Ponzi Scheme
- 05.05.2023 — FBI Phoenix Hosts Missing Person Identification Project Event
- 05.02.2023 — Operation SpecTor Targets Darknet Markets
- 04.28.2023 — FBI Los Angeles Air Assault PSA
- 04.25.2023 — FBI Richmond - National Crime Victims' Rights Week
- 04.21.2023 — Inside the FBI: The China Threat
- 04.20.2023 — Seeking Information-Suspect Wanted in Connection with Armed Robberies
- 04.17.2023 — Lumberton Women - Vodcast
- 04.13.2023 — FBI San Francisco: Video Depicting Kidnapping of Monica de Leon Barba (Video 2)
- 04.13.2023 — FBI San Francisco: Video Depicting Kidnapping of Monica de Leon Barba (Video 1)
- 04.10.2023 — Missy Peregrym IC3 PSA
- 04.03.2023 — FBI Cyber at RSA
- 03.08.2023 — FBI Jacksonville Diversity Agent Recruitment Event Trailer: Special Agent Alex Silverstein
- 03.08.2023 — FBI Jacksonville Diversity Agent Recruitment Event Trailer: Special Agent Justin Brannon
- 03.08.2023 — FBI Jacksonville Diversity Agent Recruitment Event Trailer: Special Agent Lauren Regucci
- 03.08.2023 — FBI Jacksonville Diversity Agent Recruitment Event Trailer: Special Agent in Charge Sherri Onks
- 03.03.2023 — FBI Pittsburgh Joint Operation
- 02.09.2023 — Chinese High-Altitude Balloon Recovery
FBI Weekly Newsletter
Subscribe to our email newsletter for news on the FBI, sent out every week.