Another £50M Hercules Destroyed
BBC Points West
www.bbc.co.uk
29th August 2007
The
Middle East is taking its toll on RAF Lyneham as four west
country
Hercules
planes have been lost in three years. The latest, an older
style C130K, which made a heavy landing on an airstrip outside
Kabul. Today in a statement, the RAF have said "The heavy
landing damaged the aircraft to such an extent it was not
possible
to repair it at the secured site.. all recoverable items
were removed and the aircraft destroyed". There is no mention
of
enemy fire and an investigation is now underway into what
happened. Flying in Afghanistan is hazardous, this crash
happened at
night.
Nigel Gilbert, is a former Hercules pilot, he thinks extra
forces are needed on the ground in Afghanistan to boost security
at airstrips, that way engineers would have more of a change
to repair aircraft, rather than blowing them up.
Flt Lt Nigel Gilbert said, "It's something of an own
goal, we don't seem to be able to secure these strips for
long
enough to actually get any engineering support in to repair
these aeroplanes."
" We've destroyed the last two, out of four
aeroplanes at a cost, now of £100M, how much does it
cost to send a few more troops out there or RAF Regiments
to secure
these strips." Another Hercules hit
a landmine, when
it touched down in Afghanistan last year, again on a rough
airstrip where lack of security was a concern. It has prompted
the Government to look into what it needs to take as the
ground war in Afghanistan continues.
This latest event brings problems for the top brass at RAF
Lyneham, because of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
station has not had enough aircraft for a full programme
of pilot training. That situation has just got a lot worse
after the loss of yet another Hercules aircraft.
We understand
that the aircraft which was lost last week was from 47 Squadron
at RAF Lyneham, which works with Special Forces, if that's
the case, its loss, will disrupt SAS operations in Afghanistan
until it is replaced.
Other incidents:
Hilton 22 - 30th January 2005 more...
Board of Inquiry into the loss of Hercules XV179 on 30th
January 2005 more...
Hercules - Diplomat on board more..
Hercules destroyed 13th February 2007 more...
Board of Inquiry into the loss of Hercules XV206 on 24 May
2006 more...
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