Tony Collins
<<It has always struck me as remarkable, by the way, that the press was being briefed informally within days of the accident - long before the BOI - that it was the fault of the pilots.>>
I have the opinion that it was desired to blame the pilots beyond any doubt whatsoever from the very outset so as to counter any public disquiet about this crash - can you imagine how the people of NI could have reacted if there had been a perception of the possibility of foul play? Had to be nipped in the bud real quick, eh? Had it just been an exercise gone wrong innocently, it would still have been such an almighty blow to the RAF that, I suggest, they would have moved very quickly to sacrifice the fall guys.
This latter case is, I suggest, how the majority of RAF personnel perceive this crash and understandably tow the line in not exposing any such exercise - unfortunately, this strategy hides any potential wilful act that screwed up any such exercise - sort of leaves the RAF as a body guilty of being an accessory after the fact, however unwitting, had this been the case.