Observer reporting that BoI will be published in 10 days time;
880 'fires' on RAF Nimrods before fatal mid-air explosion
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday November 25, 2007
The Observer
Almost 900 fire-related incidents on Nimrod spy planes were reported in the two decades before one of the aircraft exploded above Afghanistan in September last year, killing 14 men.
A report by BAE Systems, the plane's manufacturer, describes the number of blazes or smoke coming from the aircraft as 'frequent', raising fresh concerns that defence officials sent planes to Iraq and Afghanistan that were not airworthy.
The research details 880 incidents during which crews reported fire, smoke, burning or fumes on board between 1982 to 2004, when the report was completed. They include cases in which RAF personnel were burned or were forced to fight flames with hand-held extinguishers.
The revelations come 10 days before an RAF board of inquiry publishes its findings into the explosion of a Nimrod MR2 above Kandahar province in September 2006.
The inquiry is expected to identify a fuel leak in the aircraft as the cause. Last night relatives of those who died said that defence officials had ignored warnings concerning the risk of fire on Nimrods. Graham Knight, whose 25-year-old son, Sgt Ben Knight, was killed in the crash, said: 'It is a disturbing figure and proves that officials knew the Nimrod had a fire risk [for] longer than previously thought. Still they decided to send my son and others to fight in an aircraft that was dangerous.'
Ministry of Defence documents confirm that incidents continued after the BAE report was completed. An MoD spokesman said the high number of reported incidents was due to the meticulous nature of recording such incidents. He said: 'The number of signals generated is a reflection of the RAF's comprehensive reporting system which covers any indication, however minor, of fire, smoke, burning, fumes or smell-related occurrences. This would include, for example, incidents as minor as an overheated resistor.'