A sickening distortion... fury of Chinook families as ex-RAF chief still insists helicopter was 'airworthy'

By GRAHAM GRANT, SCOTTISH HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 19:18, 29 May 2026 | Updated: 19:18, 29 May 2026 Families of the victims of the Chinook tragedy have accused a former senior defence official of ‘sickening distortion’ after he claimed the RAF helicopter was ‘airworthy’. Retired Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten insisted it had been ‘perfectly serviceable’ when it crashed in 1994, leading to the deaths of all of the 29 people on board. His intervention came as relatives of those killed prepared to attend a commemoration event in Northern Ireland ahead of the 32nd anniversary of the disaster. They are pushing for a public inquiry amid claims of a cover-up after accusing the UK Government of a ‘breach of trust’ and treating them with ‘contempt’. Sir William and his colleague Sir John Day, who died in 2024, overruled the RAF Board of Inquiry in order to blame the pilots for gross negligence, a decision campaigners say contravened the RAF’s rules. Commenting on the campaigners’ claims, Sir William, 86, told the Mail this week: ‘If the Chinook was not airworthy, it would not have been cleared to fly. The Chinook was perfectly serviceable and since that accident, no modifications whatsoever were made to it as a result of the accident. ‘Since that time, as far as I’m concerned, it’s had a very reliable flight safety record.’ Family members of victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook tragedy prior to handing in a petition to 10 Downing Street Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper (left) and Richard Cook, the two the pilots of an RAF Chinook helicopter that crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 In a document unearthed under Freedom of Information laws this week, Sir William appeared to outline plans to respond to emerging alternative theories about the crash in a way which was ‘designed to shut down further debate’, while other papers showed sustained efforts to rebut concerns about possible technical faults. Campaigners say the new documents show test pilots and technical experts were worried about potential control malfunctions and other issues – while the Ministry of Defence (MoD) continued to blame the two Special Forces pilots. The files released relate to the disaster which killed all passengers, including the crew and officers from MI5, the Army, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Niven Phoenix, a former RAF pilot for 16 years and now a commercial pilot and aviation safety consultant, whose father Ian was killed, said: ‘Sir William Wratten’s comments are a sickening distortion of the facts we have uncovered, diametrically opposed to the evidence, at odds with the truth and the MoD’s own internal documents. ‘He is simply repeating the same institutional lies we families have spent more than three decades challenging and his comments are deeply insulting. ‘We challenge him to do the honourable thing and finally admit that the aircraft should never have left the ground.’ He added: ‘As for his ridiculous claim that no modifications were made to the Chinook Mk2 following the crash – this is laughable.’ Retired squadron leader Robert Burke, who was unit test pilot at RAF Odiham at the time of the crash, said: ‘Wratten’s comments bear no resemblance to the reality those of us involved with the Chinook Mk2 programme were dealing with at the time.  'The RAF itself had imposed weight restrictions on the aircraft because it knew there were ongoing concerns about the reliability of the FADEC engine control system. ‘You do not impose operational weight restrictions on an aircraft if you believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. ‘Boscombe Down’s [the home of a military aircraft testing site, in Wiltshire] Joint Services test pilots refused to fly the Chinook Mk2 on safety grounds shortly before the crash.’ Mark Stephens, solicitor for the families, added: ‘Sir William’s intervention is a curious one. ‘Faced with contemporaneous documents showing the aircraft was neither fully certified nor lawfully released to service, he prefers instead to revisit a conclusion that has been roundly debunked over the intervening years. ‘One might have hoped for reflection; what we have is repetition of a totally untenable position.’ On Saturday, relatives of those who died will visit the Memorial Garden at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, where wreaths will be laid. 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