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From The Times
April 24, 2008

Officer ‘told RAF about Hercules risk’

An RAF flight commander had called for improved safety on Hercules aircraft three years before ten men died when one crashed in Iraq, an inquest heard.

Squadron Leader Christopher Seal, now retired, said that he had written a memo to his superiors explaining his concerns about the aircraft after returning from serving in Afghanistan in 2002. He urged that explosion-suppressant foam (ESF) be fitted to all Hercules wing fuel tanks. In January 2005, an RAF Hercules was hit in one of its tanks by small arms fire near Baghdad. The tank exploded, blowing off a wing, killing the men on board. It was only after this incident that ESF was fitted on RAF Hercules aircraft.

Mr Seal told Wiltshire coroner’s court in Trowbridge that he had found out about ESF only after an American pilot told him that his aircraft was fitted with it. After he had sent the memo he was reprimanded for going above his station and “censored” thereafter, he said. He had already got into trouble for voicing his concerns about other safety issues related to the aircraft.

The inquest continues.

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