A helicopter crash that killed three servicemen was caused by inadequate “administration, airmanship and discipline” on the part of the Royal Air Force, a coroner ruled yesterday.

The crash took place in August 2007 as junior airmen embarked on a high-speed, low-level “tactical flying” exercise near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, in a £20 million Puma helicopter.

A cockpit recording captured those on board as they laughed, joked and made whooping noises moments before the fatal crash.

The crew shouted phrases from the Tom Cruise film Top Gun, played the Johnny Cash song Ring of Fire over the cockpit speaker and flew 5ft (1.5m) above the roof of a taxi to scare the driver.

Three RAF crew and nine young soldiers were in the helicopter when it banked sharply and crashed into a field.

The pilot, Flight Lieutenant David Sale, 28, and his crewmate Sergeant Phillip Burfoot, 27, were killed along with a 17-year-old Army recruit, Private Sean Tait.

A third crew member, Flight Lieutenant Robert Hamilton, 27, received crippling injuries. Three soldiers injured in the crash were forced to leave the Army on medical grounds.

Survivors said that the helicopter was flying low to the ground, and swerving and dipping. Shortly before it crashed, the crew of another helicopter radioed the Puma, which can reach speeds of up to 170mph (270kph), to warn its crew to “calm down”.

Delivering a narrative verdict after a 12-day hearing at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court, the coroner, Geoff Fell, said that the inexperienced flight crew were undertaking their first trip without the supervision of an instructor.

No one seemed to have laid out their ground rules, most of the flying took place at a height of less than 100ft and their tactical manoeuvres were “excessive in number and irregularity”.

The crew may not have been properly qualified for the flight, they were at times oblivious to the risks that they were running and there had been a deterioration in on-board discipline.

“The pilot of the helicopter was attempting a flying manoeuvre which was beyond his capabilities, or those of the Puma, or a combination of both,” Mr Fell said.

“Against a background of deteriorating administration, airmanship and discipline, the helicopter crashed,” he said.

Mr Fell was also critical of RAF Benson, in Oxfordshire, where the Puma crew were based. Administration at the base “left much to be desired”, with paperwork either missing or incomplete, he said.

Speaking after the hearing, Group Captain Jonathan Burr, the Station Commander at RAF Benson, said that changes had been made to its administration procedures since the crash. “We have changed the way that we supervise, manage and task our Puma operations to ensure that such events are not repeated as far as is humanly possible,” he said. Group Captain Burr, who said the courage shown by the dead men’s relatives had been “truly inspirational”, promised that the RAF’s internal investigation into the crash would continue.

The young Army recruits on board the helicopter, from the Royal Regiment of Scotland Company of the 1st Infantry Training Battalion, were only four weeks into their military careers when the crash occurred.

The family of Private Tait, from Glasgow, said that they remained “devastated at his untimely and early death. It is our deepest hope that lessons have been learned by all concerned so no other family has to go through the loss and pain we feel on a daily basis,” they said.

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