UK NEWS

LAST WORDS OF DOOMED RAF CREW

GIANT: The Hercules - Similar to the one hit by an enemy rocket killing 10 aboard

Wednesday April 2,2008

By David Pilditch

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CHILLING details of the final moments inside an RAF Hercules shot down in Iraq were revealed yesterday at an inquest into the deaths of 10 British servicemen aboard.

In the last desperate radio message from the doomed aircraft, Lance Corporal Steven Jones, 25, was heard saying: “We are on fire. We are on fire.”

The giant plane crashed after a fuel tank was pierced by enemy gunfire and exploded, blowing one wing off.

The inquest was told that the C-130K transport plane was not fitted with safety foam coverings that relatives believe could have saved the lives of all on board. The “explosive suppressant foam”, or ESF, prevents fuel tanks exploding if hit.

Hercules planes of the US Air Force have had the protective device since the Vietnam War and similar Australian aircraft have them. But the system was not fitted on British aircraft despite the concerns of senior RAF staff.

Sarah Chapman, sister of engineering technician Sergeant Robert O’Connor, 38, who died in the crash in a remote area near Baghdad, accused defence chiefs of not fitting ESF to its 45-strong fleet of Hercules on cost grounds. It costs £600,000 for each aircraft. She said before the hearing: “It is a travesty that people have got to lose their lives before action is taken.”

Coroner David Masters told the inquest at Trowbridge, Wilts, it was the RAF’s largest loss of life from hostile action in a single incident since the Second World War.

Last night the Ministry of Defence said between 20 and 30 Hercules now have the foam protection, including all RAF Hercules currently flying “routinely” in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The inquest will examine why the plane was flying at a low level in daylight when downed at 1.30pm on January 30 2005. A witness said it was flying at just 500ft.

The coroner will also ask why vital intelligence was not passed on to the aircrew by US servicemen. They were not told that a similar ambush on two US helicopters had taken place three hours earlier a mile away.

Eyewitnesses described the terrifying moment the plane was blown out of the sky. A US serviceman, Witness C, said the aircraft was hit by “some type of rocket”. In a statement read to the inquest he said: “I saw a fireball going through the air, it took no more than four seconds to hit the plane.”

The others killed were: Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, 39; pilot Flight Lieut David Stead, 35; co-pilot Flight Lieut Andrew Smith, 25; Australian navigator Flight Lieut Paul Pardoel, 35; Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42; Chief Technician Richard Brown, 40; Flight Sgt Mark Gibson, 34, and Cpl David Williams, 38. The inquest continues.

OUR ILL-EQUIPED FORCES

02.04.08, 2:14pm

So many of our Forces' personnel have died needlessly because the Labour government has neglected to equip them properly.

With a government like this, we don't need enemies! It's a treacherous government - Brown, Blair and, over the years, the myriad arrogant, clueless, self-seeking, talentless nerds who have surrounded them, are guilty of destroying our democracy, way of life, our country and its image abroad.

Soldiers having to buy their own boots!! It's horrifying shame!

• Posted by: CathyK • Report Comment

MORE COST CUTTING =

02.04.08, 1:38pm

more of our servicemen DEAD.

Do lives mean nothing to this administration? £600,000 is a small price to pay for mens lives.

• Posted by: Veltro205 • Report Comment

LAST WORDS OF DOOMED RAF CREW

02.04.08, 11:00am

The lives of our heroes must be worth at least 600,000 each. That*is 6,000,000. Let's not fool ourselves.... it's MoD at fault here, it's the T R E A S U R Y and Brown was in charge of it for TEN years.

• Posted by: JohnnyB • Report Comment