RAF Nimrod was 'never airworthy'
The RAF's entire fleet of Nimrod aircraft has "never been airworthy", a coroner has said.
Andrew Walker was speaking as he began to give his verdict at the Oxford inquest on the deaths of 14 servicemen in a crash in Afghanistan in 2006.
All the men died when a 37-year-old reconnaissance plane exploded minutes after undergoing air-to-air refuelling.
The inquest has heard evidence of fuel leaks. Mr Walker said the men could not have known the plane was not airworthy.
In his view the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" nearly 40 years ago, he added.
Family anger
The crash led to the biggest single loss of life suffered by the British military since the Falklands War.
An RAF Board of Inquiry (BoI) report into the incident concluded that ageing components and a lack of modern fire suppressants were among the "contributory factors" leading to the accident.
It said fuel probably escaped during the refuelling into a bay on the aircraft either because of a leaking fuel coupling or an overflowing fuel tank.
After the report was published Defence Secretary Des Browne and Chief of Air Staff Sir Glenn Torpy both apologised to the families of the victims.
Relatives of the have voiced their anger over safety issues revealed by the inquiry and inquest, and have made their own investigations into the safety record of the fleet.
This week a senior engineer from defence and aerospace firm BAE Systems told the inquest that his predecessors, who made the Nimrod some 40 years ago, failed to fit a fire protection system on a key area of risk on the aircraft.
And the firm's head of airworthiness Tom McMichael said that if the evidence heard was correct, the Nimrod planes had, at the time of the tragedy, been flying in an unairworthy state for 37 years.
Following the crash all air-to-air refuelling on the Nimrod fleet was suspended and that suspension remains in force.
Twelve of the men who died were from 120 Squadron based at RAF Kinloss in Moray, Scotland.
Two other servicemen who were attached to the squadron also died.
Grounding
On Thursday, Mr Walker, Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire, said he was considering a number of safety recommendations, including the grounding of the entire Nimrod fleet.
But the Ministry of Defence is under no obligation to carry out any of his recommendations.
The 14 men killed were:
Flight Lieutenant Steven Johnson, 38, from Collingham, Nottinghamshire, Flt Lt Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore, 28, from Bournemouth, Dorset, Flt Lt Gareth Rodney Nicholas, 40, from Redruth, Cornwall, Flt Lt Allan James Squires, 39, from Clatterbridge, Merseyside and Flt Lt Steven Swarbrick, 28, from Liverpool.
Flight Sergeant Gary Wayne Andrews, 48, from Tankerton, Kent, Flt Sgt Stephen Beattie, 42, from Dundee, Flt Sgt Gerard Martin Bell, 48, from Newport, Shropshire, and Flt Sgt Adrian Davies, 49, from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, Sergeant Benjamin James Knight, 25, from Bridgwater, Sgt John Joseph Langton, 29,from Liverpool and Sgt Gary Paul Quilliam, 42, from Manchester.
Lance Corporal Oliver Simon Dicketts, of the Parachute Regiment, from Wadhurst and Royal Marine Joseph David Windall, 22, from Hazlemere.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7416627.stm
