An RAF engineer found “quite shocking” levels of corrosion around the fuel pipes of an RAF Nimrod surveillance aircraft, similar to the one which exploded in mid-air with the loss of 14 service personnel over Afghanistan.

Sergeant Andrew Whitmore, a Nimrod engineer, told the inquest into the 14 men that he had discovered a number of corroded couplings which were used to join the fuel pipes. He first noticed the corrosion while investigating the cause of a fuel leak on a Nimrod that was in the same fleet as the aircraft that crashed in September 2006.

Sergeant Whitmore told the inquest in Oxford that the corrosion was “quite shocking, quite bad”. The metal was so badly damaged that the couplings could not be unscrewed and had to be sawn off. The protective sealant around the couplings had also peeled back, he said, and the metal was flaking away. “I reported it, I thought it was a serious matter,” he said.

It was not until after the crash that a check of all the couplings in the Nimrod fleet was carried out. “We didn’t find any leaks but it was only a matter of time. We found dented fuel pipes and broken bonding leads,” Sergeant Whitmore said.

Another RAF sergeant in charge of maintenance work on Nimrods in Afghanistan told the inquest that he knew nothing about past fuel leaks on board the doomed aircraft, which crashed shortly after it had completed air-to-air refuelling close to Kandahar airfield.

Sergeant Mark Wallington, the ground engineer who supervised repair and maintenance work on the Nimrods operating in southern Afghanistan, told the coroner’s court that he had not been informed of the previous incidents of fuel leaks.

The inquest has already been told that Nimrod crews had reported a number of fuel leaks throughout the fleet of aircraft. Some of the Nimrods were engaged in “blowing off” fuel and air through a safety valve as the tanks were filled. The highly inflammable fuel had been found in puddles and dripping off the undercarriage. This practice was suspended after two fuel leaks.

Sergeant Wallington said he knew that the Nimrods leaked fuel from the wing tanks but not from the tanks in the fuselage, where the consequences would be more serious, until after the accident in September 2006.

He told the inquest that he did not know that the doomed Nimrod, call sign XV230, had “blown off” fuel on two recorded occasions before the crash. “I think I should have been made aware.” he said.

A board of inquiry found that one possible cause of the accident was an escape of fuel during air-to-air refuelling. The inquest continues today.

A British serviceman was injured and two civilians were killed in a rocket attack on the Basra airport base yesterday.

About a dozen rockets were fired at the British base, northwest of Basra. The Ministry of Defence described the injured serviceman as “walking wounded”. The two civilian workers were believed to be from the Middle East.

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