It was (apparently) on this date in 1989 that Dr Thomas Hayes of the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) discovered amongst Lockerbie debris a fragment of circuit board embedded in a shirt collar. This became PT35(b) -- the notorious dodgy timer fragment. The story of the discovery and how it was recorded is narrated an article headed Page 51 and its Environs on Caustic Logic’s blog The Lockerbie Divide. The dialogue between Caustic Logic and Rolfe in the comments following the blogpost is also a mine of information. Another useful source of enlightenment is Dr Ludwig de Braeckeleer’s PT35B website.
I have to say that since I've had sight of the entirety of Hayes's notes (in facsimile) and in the light of what the SCCRC reported, on balance I think that photo was probably taken on 12th May 1989 and the whole thing is less sinister than it appears. "A muddle not a fiddle."
ReplyDeleteHayes's notes are a disorganised dog's breakfast of interpolations and additions. He also quit that job only months later and went off to retrain in an entirely different field and do something entirely different for the next ten years. Then he has to pitch up in court and give evidence about what he did in something that must have seemed like another life by then.
But he comes over as an arrogant so-and-so, and rather than say clearly what he does or doesn't remember, he's permanently on his high horse pontificating as the Great Expert. Instead of "I don't remember" we get "I can't help you with that" and similar phrases.
The whole thing looks extraordinarily suspicious and for a forensics laboratory to produce paperwork so lacking in provenance is absolutely disgraceful, but I think actually this is not the issue with PT/35b. The issue is the metallurgy.