EPISODE · Dec 21, 2025 · 42 MIN
Minute by Minute: The Lockerbie Bombing
from Deep Dive
Former Vietnam War fighter pilot Raymond Wagner toggled the radio transmit button on the right hand side of his Boeing 747-121's control yoke. 'Clipper 103 requesting oceanic clearance', he intoned, using the modulated aviation voice he'd honed over several decades flying. On the other end was Alan Topp, the Scottish Air Traffic Controller working more than 50 miles away in Prestwick, west of Glasgow.The time was 6:58pm on December 21, 1988.They were the last words recorded from Pan Am Flight 103.Within five minutes of that transmission, all the passengers and crew aboard were dead, killed by a bomb that destroyed the aircraft as it flew over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Large sections of the plane plunged 20,000ft and crashed into residential streets below.270 people died that night: 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 Lockerbie residents.In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: The Lockerbie Bombing reconstructs how the deadliest terror attack in Britain's history unfolded – from the moment the bomb was loaded onto a plane in Malta, through the 38 fatal minutes in the air, to the decades-long search for justice that continues today.Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, this is the definitive minute-by-minute account of the Lockerbie Bombing.Host: Michael Buerk Producer: John Rogers Sound Design: John Scott Executive Producers: Bella Soames and Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What this episode covers
Former Vietnam War fighter pilot Raymond Wagner toggled the radio transmit button on the right hand side of his Boeing 747-121's control yoke. 'Clipper 103 requesting oceanic clearance', he intoned, using the modulated aviation voice he'd honed over several decades flying. On the other end was Alan Topp, the Scottish Air Traffic Controller working more than 50 miles away in Prestwick, west of Glasgow.The time was 6:58pm on December 21, 1988.They were the last words recorded from Pan Am Flight 103.Within five minutes of that transmission, all the passengers and crew aboard were dead, killed by a bomb that destroyed the aircraft as it flew over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Large sections of the plane plunged 20,000ft and crashed into residential streets below.270 people died that night: 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 Lockerbie residents.In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: The Lockerbie Bombing reconstructs how the deadliest terror attack in Britain's history unfolded – from the moment the bomb was loaded onto a plane in Malta, through the 38 fatal minutes in the air, to the decades-long search for justice that continues today.Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, this is the definitive minute-by-minute account of the Lockerbie Bombing.Host: Michael Buerk Producer: John Rogers Sound Design: John Scott Executive Producers: Bella Soames and Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Minute by Minute: The Lockerbie Bombing
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