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| Reconstruction of Itavia 870's wreckage |
One of the largest stories in the news
right now is the downing
of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. It is the largest (recovered)
aviation disaster since the 9/11 attacks. The nature of the incident
seems undeniable – it was shot
out of the sky by a missile. European, American and Russian sides
all agree on this aspect.
The incident reminded us of one of the
most forgotten aviation disasters of all time: the
downing of Italian airliner Itavia 870 in 1980. It is commonly referred to in Italy as, La strage di Ustica - The Massacre of Ustica.
Itavia was an Italian company that
dealt with European based travel. The flight, carrying 81 people, was
from Bologna to Palermo. About 2 hours into the flight, the plane was
no longer on Italian radar. Italian fighter jets were scrambled to
the plane's last known position. Wreckage of the plane was found in
the Tyrrhennian Sea – between Sicily and Naples, just off the small island of Ustica.
It was readily apparent from the outset
of the recovery that something was “wrong.” The plane did not
have any characteristics of catastrophic failure. Further, the plane
offered no distress signal – a common feature of planes
experiencing failure. However, the plane did feature multiple blast
patterns consistent with high explosives. This had investigators
puzzled.
It was only after a majority of the
wreckage was recovered that Italian authorities were able to
reconstruct the plane. It is here where the final pieces started to
come together. The blast patterns that the investigators had first
noticed during the recovery effort were now on full display. However,
one thing struck them as odd – the blast turned the exterior metal
of the plane inward towards the cabin. A bomb on the plane
would cause the metal to curl outwards, away from the plane.
This meant one thing: the explosion
came from outside the plane.
The findings caused Italian high courts
to rule:
“The DC9 incident occurred following a military interception action, the DC9 was shot down, the lives of 81 innocent citizens were destroyed by an action properly described as an act of war, real war undeclared, a covert international police action against our country, which violated its borders and rights.”
It is important to note that Italy has
been fervently asserting that the airplane was shot down for over 30
years. So – if the plane was shot down....who did it? This is where
the story takes a very weird turn.
To understand the story behind the
downing, you need to understand the politics of the time:
1) Libya's dictator, Muammar Ghaddafi,
was Public Enemy # 1 for the United Nations, Western Powers and the
United States.
2) Italy is situated right in the
middle of the Mediterranean basin – which places it in close
proximity to Libya and Western Europe. Italy is also home to multiple
American and United Nations military bases.
The prevailing theory on why Itavia 870
was downed was because it
was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
UN forces (namely, American and French) were alerted that either Gaddafi and/or a high ranking Libyan politician were flying in jet, over the Mediterranean – back to Libya. The decision was made to assassinate the targets.
American, Italian and French fighter jets were scrambled and they met up with what appeared to be their target. We say “appeared” because the plane carrying Gaddafi had been diverted and safely landed on the island of Malta. Why was it diverted? Because corrupt Italian officials had given Gaddafi warning of the assassination attempt.
However, Libya's own Jet Fighter was not aware of this change of plan. The plane went to the rendezvous point and found a plane that looked like Gaddafi's. It then shadowed the plane. When American and French forces found a plane being protected by Libyan fighter, they took no chances. They fired on them at once. It is believed that the Libyan fighter was able to fight back momentarily; Itavia 870 was not as lucky. It was blown out of the sky on its first strike.
While this is only a theory, it is supported by very hard to ignore facts:
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| Map shows proximity of Itavia's crash - and location of crashed Libyan Jet |
1) A
crashed Libyan fighter jet was discovered in the hills of Calabria (in
close proximity to the Itavia downing), 21 days after the incident.
The body of the pilot had been badly decomposed.
2) Blast patterns on the plane showed
an explosion occurred outside of the plane – not inside.
3) Newly
released documents from Libya after the death of Gaddafi and Fall
of Tripoli reveal that Gaddafi had successfully evaded an
assassination attempt in the air – and that a civilian airliner was
downed by accident as a result.
Why is this event never remembered?
Probably because of the motives behind the action. No nation is
willing to admit (in the modern era) that it was attempting to
assassinate a country's leader.
So, while we all lament the downing of
Malaysia Airline 17 and the loss of its innocent passengers, let us
also remember the people of Itavia 870. The only reason their story
was hidden was because the “good guys” were to blame.
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