Thread by @NickWhithorn

27 June 1980, at 20.08, Itavia flight IH870 to Palermo takes off from Bologna with 81 people on board. At 20.59, the DC-9 crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea near the island of Ustica, killing everyone on board. The truth about what happened is still to be established [Thread] >> 1

Search & rescue operations find just a few pieces of floating wreckage 110km north of Ustica and only 35 bodies are recovered. Small traces of explosive are detected on some of the parts recovered, favouring the hypothesis of a bomb on board, rather than a structural failure >> 2

The bomb hypothesis is also favoured by the ongoing terrorism campaign by neofascist group NAR, responsible for the worst terrorist attack in postwar Italian history at Bologna station just over a month after the Ustica crash (see linked thread below) >> 3

https://twitter.com/NickWhithorn/status/1289967174753251328?s=19

In 1987, and again in 1992, salvage operations recover 96% of the aircraft from a depth of 3,700m. The wreck is reassembled in a hangar at Pratica di Mare military airfield near Rome (photo), where it remains until 2006. Various elements begin to weaken the bomb hypothesis >> 4

Investigators ascertain that as many as 21 military aircraft from Italy, France, USA & Libya were flying in the area that night. Inquiries are hampered by lack of cooperation from foreign governments & Italian Air Force. Records & radar traces are found to have been cancelled>> 5

The theory now takes hold of a missile fired by a NATO or Libyan jet, also placed in relation to the discovery on 18 July, 21 days after the disaster, of a Libyan Mig that crashed in a remote area of the Aspromonte mountains in Calabria. The exact date it crashed is disputed >> 6

Over the years 80 Italian Air Force officers are indicted for destroying evidence and/or misleading investigations, several of whom are convicted. Four high ranking officers are indicted for treason but found 'not guilty' >> 7

None of this has helped to bring the truth nearer. Over 2 million pages of evidence has been gathered, with over 4,000 witnesses questioned, all to no avail. Investigators have also looked into 'suspicious' deaths of 12 Air Force officers witnesses to the events that night >> 8

These deaths, between 1980 & 1995 result from 3 car crashes, 1 heart attack, 3 suicides by hanging, 2 murders & 3 air crashes (including two pilots killed in the Ramstein Air Show crash in 1988). Only two (suicides) are considered to possibly be linked to investigations >> 9

No definitive conclusion has ever been reached even on the exact cause of the disaster, let alone who is responsible for it. It is, however, generally accepted that the DC-9 was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired by a military jet operating in the area that night >> 10

In 2007, Francesco Cossiga, PM at the time of the disaster, attributes it to an air-to-air missile fired by a French military aircraft in an attempt to shoot down a Libyan jet carrying Colonel Ghedaffi. Ghedaffi himself also blames the incident on an attempt to kill him >> 11

French & US governments have never fully cooperated in inquiries & have also changed their versions of events more than once. Combined with reluctance, obstruction & even deliberate alteration or destruction of evidence in Italy, 41 years later we still do not know the truth>> 12

As affirmed in court documents from 1984, "The Ustica disaster has set in motion, not only in Italy, processes of deviation and tampering with evidence. The interests behind the event and in contrasting all inquiries have been so strong, not only in Italy,... >> 13

... but especially within the institutions of other States, as to obstruct ascertainment of the facts, especially through hiding evidence & launching new hypotheses, with the clear intention of suffocating the investigation. [...] >> 14

The tampering operation has been so substantial there can be no doubt it is aimed at preventing the truth from coming out ... and there can be no doubt that there is a link between those who know the causes of the disaster & those who have obstructed inquiries for years" >>15

Last year technicians from Rainews cleaned up the tape recording of the pilot's last words to his co-pilot. Previously, all that could be heard was, "Gua...". They were able to obtain a complete phrase, "Guarda, cos'è?" ("Look, what's that?").//