Families hear plane crash recording

May 7 2008

Families of 14 British servicemen have heard a radio recording of the last moments before their loved ones' RAF Nimrod spy plane went down in Afghanistan.

Oxford Coroner's Court was cleared so that they could hear the cockpit recording from Nimrod XV 230 in private.

The 37-year-old reconnaissance aircraft exploded in a ball of flames just minutes after undergoing air-to-air refuelling near Kandahar on September 2, 2006.

The inquest into the 14 men's deaths began on Tuesday with a visit by the court, including the families, to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to view a Nimrod plane.

An RAF Board of Inquiry into the loss of the plane found that ageing components and a lack of modern fire suppressants were among the "contributory factors" which led to the accident.

The deaths of the servicemen was the heaviest loss of life to be suffered by British forces in a single incident since the Falklands War.

The BoI found that the most probable cause of the crash was an escape of fuel during the air-to-air refuelling, either as a result of an overflow or a leakage from the aircraft's fuel system.

The crew had no means of attacking the principal fire and had no choice but to attempt an emergency descent to the Kandahar airbase but, at 3,000ft, the aircraft was seen by a RAF Harrier pilot to explode in a ball of flame, just six minutes after the blaze broke out.

The 12 RAF personnel killed were Flight Lieutenant Steven Johnson, Flt Lt Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore, Flt Lt Gareth Rodney Nicholas, Flt Lt Allan James Squires, Flt Lt Steven Swarbrick, Flight Sergeant Gary Wayne Andrews, Flt Sgt Stephen Beattie, Flt Sgt Gerard Martin Bell and Flt Sgt Adrian Davies, Sergeant Benjamin James Knight, Sgt John Joseph Langton and Sgt Gary Paul Quilliam.

Lance Corporal Oliver Simon Dicketts, from the Parachute Regiment, and Royal Marine Joseph David Windall also died.