Spy plane crash probe apology

A new military body will be set up in April, next year, after a Nimrod spy plane blew up shortly after refuelling, killing all 14 men on board.

The move comes after a critical report into the crash in Afghanistan three years ago which blamed three BAE managers from Chadderton for “lamentable” work.

Two senior air force officers named in the report are being investigated by RAF police, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said.

The inquiry by Charles Haddon-Cave QC was published in October when he accused the Ministry of Defence of sacrificing safety to cut costs.

A safety review of the Nimrod MR2 carried out by the MoD, BAE Systems and QinetiQ was branded a “lamentable job”.

Three Chadderton BAE managers — Chris Lowe, Richard Oldfield and Eric Prince — were named in the report. Mr Lowe was said to have bore the heaviest responsibility for the “poor planning, poor management and poor execution” of the project.

Mr Oldfield, leader of the Nimrod review for BAE Systems, is said to have failed to admit to the existence of large gaps in the analysis of possible risks, and failed to manage the project properly.

Mr Prince, BAE’s flight systems and avionics manager, was blamed for giving a misleading impression of completeness of the work.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Ainsworth re-iterated his apology to the families of the victims.

He told MPs: “The Nimrod was lost as a result of a number of failings over three decades. Opportunities to discover and avoid the dangers, particularly during development of the safety case, were missed.”