RAF helicopter was made from 2 old Chinooks bolted together

THE Ministry of Defence admitted last night that an RAF Chinook helicopter flown in Afghanistan has been cobbled together from the front and back of two old aircraft.

A Royal Air Force Chinock helicopter takes part in training exercise A Royal Air Force Chinock helicopter takes part in training exercise

Officials earlier denied the hybrid had been operational in the Middle East.

The aircraft was made up from two others – one which crashed in 1999 and one taken from the Argentinians during the Falklands war. The two parts were fused together – a “cut and shut” technique often used illegally by dodgy car dealers – and the aircraft went back into service in 2003.

The MoD statement followed an embarrassing disclosure by former Defence Secretary John Hutton in a letter to Ian Sadler, whose 21-year-old son Jack was killed in Afghanistan in December 2007. Mr Sadler, of Exmouth, Devon, said he was told about the hybrid helicopter by a soldier who claims he had been inside it in Afghanistan within the last year and that it had two different identification numbers.

The MoD would not confirm its whereabouts. But last night a spokesperson said: “We argue it’s a good use of resources.”

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