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`ZULU DELTA` 576 Left RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland at
around 17.30 hrs on Thursday 2nd June 1994,bound for Fort
George, Inverness. The cargo that evening were 25 passengers
of a Northern Ireland Peace Keeping Force, Consisting of
high ranking members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary,The
Army Inteligence Corps, members of various other units of
the Army, inc Officers of the Queens Lancashire Regiment,
Devon & Dorset Reg, Prince of Wales, Royal Artiliary and
the Prince of Wales Own.
The Chinook had a crew of four, two pilots and two crew who
were known as Air Loadmasters, and would guide the Chinook
in for landing at its destination, and make sure cargo and
passengers were secure etc.
On the evening in question, ZD576 had crossed the North
Channel of the Irish Sea, and was heading straight towards
the Scottish Peninsular known as the Mull of Kintyre, when
it was seen by a local yachtsman to be flying straight and
level, with no apparent trouble, the weather according to
this man was clear, but there was some mist and cloud on the
hill,apparently, for reasons still unknown, no attempt was
made by the Chinooks crew to climb, though what went on in
the cockpit we shall never know, for there were no voice
recorders on board, perhaps the crew were trying to climb,
but the helicopter was not responding? It seems incredible
that they would just head for the mountain without any form
of evasive action, for these pilots were not novices, they
were experts in their own field, and had been hand picked
for special duties such as this.
The Chinook crashed at a location known as Beinn Na Lice,a
location where in fact a Wellington bomber had crashed in
December 1943 while on a training flight from Silloth.
The helicopter was so badly wrecked that little evidence was
ever found as to the precise cause of the crash, for a time
the scene got ugly, at first the pilots were hailed as heroes
for carrying out these special duties in the wake of all the
terrorism in Northern Ireland, then when the investigation
began, and no real evidence was found in the wreckage, the
Ministry put the blame on the two pilots, saying that they
were guilty of "gross negligence". The families of the two
pilots, and the county Sheriff in Scotland all fought for
their inocence and it was only in February this year that
the two pilots were pardoned, and House of Lords eventually
concluded by saying "It was not possible to be certain that
negligence on the part of the pilots caused the crash"
Crew of Chinook ZD576:
PILOT: F/LT JONATHAN P.TAPPER.
PILOT: F/LT RICHARD D.COOK.
LOADMASTER: M/SGT GRAHAM W.FORBES.
LOADMASTER: SGT KEVIN A.HARDIE.
Passengers:
Asst Chief Constable: BRIAN FITZSIMONS.
Det Chief Superintendant: DESMOND CONROY.
Det Chief Superintendant: MAURICE NEILLY.
Det Superintendant: PHILLIP DAVIDSON.
Det Superintendant: ROBERT FOSTER.
Det Superintendant: BILLY GWILLIAM.
Det Superintendant: IAN PHOENIX.
Det Chief Inspector: DENIS BUNTING.
Det Inspector: STEPHEN DAVIDSON.
Det Inspector: KEVIN MAGEE.
Home Office CB-57: JOHN DEVERILL.
COLONEL: CHRISTOPHER BILES. OBE.
LT COLONEL: RICHARD GREGORY-SMITH.
LT COLONEL: JOHN TOBIAS.
LT COLONEL: GEORGE WILLIAMS.
MAJOR: CHRISTOPHER J.DOCHERTY.
MAJOR: ANTHONY HORNBY.
MAJOR: GARY SPARKS.
MAJOR: RICHARD ALLEN.
MAJOR: ROY PUGH.
ANNE JAMES.
MARTIN DALTON.
JOHN HAYNES.
MICHAEL MALTBY.
STEPHEN RICKARD.
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Chinook ZD576 - S.Scotland
