Lyneham families deliver petition
Swindon Advertiser
25th October 2006
www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk
Relatives of 10 servicemen killed when their RAF Hercules transport aircraft crashed in Iraq delivered a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair today and are seeking a meeting with him.

The group of family members handed over a petition of almost 3,000 signatures to No 10 asking the Government to improve safety on Hercules aircraft. The downing of the Hercules C130K about 20 miles north west of Baghdad on January 30 last year was the biggest single loss of British life in Iraq since the invasion began in 2003.

The Hercules was brought down by gunfire when a partly-empty fuel tank was hit and exploded. The relatives of those killed have questioned whether the crash could have been prevented if explosive-suppressant foam devices had been fitted to the aircraft's fuel tanks.

This afternoon a group of family and friends led by 12-year-old Laura Brown, the daughter of Chief Technician Richard Brown, presented the petition at No 10, demanding the entire fleet of Hercules be fitted with explosive suppressant foam.

The petition had been signed by relatives of the crew members, serving members of the armed forces, retired air marshals, members of the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Department of Australia, author Frederick Forsyth and actor Martin Shaw.

Sarah Chapman, whose brother Sergeant Bob O'Connor, 38, was killed in the crash, said she hoped Mr Blair would take notice of the petition and respond to it. "We were all pleased with how it went," Ms Chapman said.

"We asked that Tony Blair please give it his full attention and we are expecting and waiting for him to do that." Ms Chapman invited Mr Blair and Defence Secretary Des Brown to meet with her in the coming months. "We will follow this up," she said.

"I put the call out to Tony Blair and Des Brown to meet with me to discuss the situation. I have said I would like to do that and I put that call out there."

The Lyneham crew members killed in the crash were Flt Lt David Stead, 35, Flt Lt Andrew Smith, 25, Flt Lt Paul Pardoel, 35, Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42, Chief Technician Richard Brown, 40, Flt Sgt Mark Gibson, 34, Sgt Robert O'Connor, 38, and Cpl David Williams, 37.

The ninth RAF man on board, Sqn Ldr Patrick Marshall, 39, was from Strike Command Headquarters, at RAF High Wycombe. Acting L/Cpl Steven Jones, 25, was a soldier serving with the Royal Signals and a passenger on the Hercules.

Joining Ms Chapman and Laura Brown at Downing Street were her parents Di and Michael O'Connor, Richard and Pauline Stead, whose son David was killed, and Paul Pardoel's best friend Peter Glenister.

Ms Chapman said it had been a hard day for all the families.

"It was very emotional, but it was never going to be an easy thing to do," she said.

"The fact is that we as grieving relatives had to embark on this campaign to support those within the forces who could not exercise their voices and be heard. "We are all getting our emotions back in check now, going back to to keeping our grief private, but I think the world got a glimpse of our grief today."