Ladies and Gentlemen,
I shall try to respond in a single post to the comments which followed my Post No: 2 above.
First, ‘pilot error’ as a finding was frequently used where no other cause could be found but the concept of ‘error’ was not generally taken to imply negligence but could suggest a lack of skill or whatever. It’s use may not have been officially condoned but the mores of the ‘50s required a rather ‘tidy’ finish to these things, although we would probably use ‘not positively determined’ now.
Second, the losses of aircraft by number and the casualties involved can be easily found on the RAF Museum website, the ‘RAF History’, Historical Society Journals’ and finally ‘Journal 37 – Flight Safety’. The book ‘Broken Wings’ published by Air Britain is also a valuable source. I have details of most of these accidents but to analyse them by type etc would take a bit of time.
Three, I referred to the Vulcan crash at Heathrow, as an illustration that only occasionally are accident investigations reopened. This one wasn’t so much reopened as it had a researchers’ devilling into the findings and offering a reasoned possibility that the original findings were wrong.
As to reopening a specific accident investigation, I remain convinced that there is a need to produce new and compelling evidence, before an enquiry would be reconvened. I also believe that there is an inertia in MOD which would defeat all but the most persistent campaigners. Reference to the Saville Enquiry is, if I may be so bold, a red herring. Saville was part of the ‘peace process’ and was politically motivated at the highest level. Money and time were no object and the reaction of republicans to its publication makes one wonder why anybody bothered. Had all the squaddies involved simply said: ‘Sorry, my Lord, it’s too long ago and my memory is so vague, I can’t even remember which riot this was’, the whole thing would have been stopped dead in its tracks.
However, I digress.
In conclusion, whilst one might wish to find out as much as possible about how and why an accident happened, there can be unintended consequences, such as a feeling of bitterness by (say) the families of some crew against the kith and kin of the pilot or resentment between the families of a dead crew member against a survivor. There is also often a good deal of raw emotion generated and everybody reacts differently and sometimes unpredictably.
Old Duffer