Dear sir,
I am Richard Stewart, sometime Sergeant Airframe fitter, RAF.

Early on in my RAF career I was posted to 60 M.U. then at RAF Church Fenton. It was my good fortune to be employed on the AS&T section (Aircraft Salvage & Transportation) and to be deployed to a remote crash site with one of the airmen who was on board Hastings TG579 when it crashed into the sea while attempting to land at RAF Gan in the Indian Ocean. Whilst the events of that night have been generally well covered, I havent seen anything that explains why the aircraft crashed. I have to state that my only interest was due to having worked alongside a survivor.

Fast forward to 1965. I am stationed at RAF Nicosia in ASF maintaining 70 Sqdn Hastings a/c. Shortly after the Hastings crash at RAF Abingdon in July 1965 all our aircraft were grounded while an inspection was carried out on the Tailplane to Elevator hinge bracket attachment points. These brackets were of Magnesium alloy construction and on many aircraft were found to be severely corroded around the tailplane attachment points.
I think its fair to say that there was a distinct whitening around the gills of all who were in any way involved with flying or maintaining these aircraft, not least because RAF El-Adem was resupplied once a week via a 70 Sqdn a/c.


Best Regards,

Richard