BBC - RAF pilots 'asked for tank foam'

[White Cap]

RAF pilots 'asked for tank foam'

The deaths of 10 UK personnel in Iraq in January 2005 could have been avoided if a safety device was fitted to their Hercules plane, the BBC has learned.

RAF pilots requested that explosive- suppressant foam devices be fitted to fuel tanks two years before the attack in which the men died, RAF papers show.

The Ministry of Defence said none of its planes in Iraq or Afghanistan have the foam, but some will be fitted soon.

The foam has been in use in US Hercules aircraft since the Vietnam war.

The attack happened on 30 January, 2005, when the Hercules was hit by ground-to-air fire which caused an explosion in the right hand wing fuel tank.

A board of inquiry which published its findings in December said the crash was not survivable but did admit that the lack of a fuel tank safety system could have contributed to the crash.

It appears from the report by the board of inquiry this is a fundamental and basic thing which ought to be in all these aircraft
Michael Moore
Liberal Democrats

The crash was the single largest loss of British life in Iraq since military action began in 2003.

The explosive-suppressant foam stops fuel tanks from exploding when pierced by bullets. One US plane shot 19 times in Iraq still managed to land safely.

With the continued lack of foam on Hercules planes, campaigners say they will sue ministers for corporate manslaughter if any more lives are lost because of a lack of protective equipment.

The BBC Radio 4's Today programme has seen internal RAF documents which show the Ministry of Defence was subject to repeated requests from pilots in 2002.

The programme was told one US pilot refused to fly in a British plane because of concerns he had about safety.

'Scandalous'

Former RAF Hercules pilot Nigel Gilbert, who trained with the pilot killed in the attack, said: "I believe the probability is that the crew would have survived the attack if the aircraft had explosive suppressant foam in the fuel tanks.

"The crew was so good they could have even put it down in a road or put their landing gear up and landed it straight ahead in the desert. It was as flat as a pancake."

A statement from the MoD said the planes facing the highest risk of attack would be fitted with the foam.

Michael Moore, foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it was "scandalous" that only some of the planes were to be fitted with the foam, months after Defence Secretary John Reid promised an urgent response to the board's findings.

"The secretary of state himself said this would be looked at urgently," said Mr Moore.

"It appears from the report by the board of inquiry this is a fundamental and basic thing which ought to be in all these aircraft."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/u ... 963746.stm

Published: 2006/05/02 07:48:10 GMT

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