dalek,
It was my eldest son's 14th birthday - but I saw very little of him that evening because, as I walked in the door at the end of a 12 hr day, the phone began to ring. I got to bed at about 0200 and left home again at 0600 so that I could ensure that the programme that I had revised actually happened.
The only reason that I am relating this is that I know what the responses were to the tragedy; and what the reorganisation of a large percentage of the Comms Fleet assets entailed.
There was also, of course, a knock-on effect in respect of other tasks - but I have no specific knowledge of what that entailed.
PS. I never did get re-imbursed for all the phone calls I made that evening!!!
PPS. It is refreshing to see that you admit that you have NO idea what the weather conditions were that evening. The BOI were, of course, lucky enough to have approx a dozen "eye" witnesses as to the actual events that evening - including one who was approx 100 metres from the impact point. In addition, one should never forget that the 2 Lighthouse Keepers were qualified Met Observers - a requirement of the job!!
Last edited by cazatou; 16th May 2009 at 19:40.