Ex-RAF Squadron Leader reveals that Chinook was on a “show flight”
Ex-RAF Squadron Leader reveals that Chinook which crashed was on a “show flight” to prove to the Army that the Mark 2 helicopter was ‘safe’
BBC to re-broadcast crucial documentary this weekend which first revealed files on the 1994 crash are sealed for 100 years
NEWS RELEASE August 15th, 2025
A highly respected former RAF Squadron Leader, who conducted tests on the Chinook helicopter fleet, has revealed that the crashed aircraft’s final journey – which killed 29 people – was ordered into the air as a “show flight” to prove that the upgrade from Mark 1 to Mark 2 was ‘safe’ - despite serious and known concerns about airworthiness raised by RAF test engineers and pilots at Boscombe Down.
RAF Chinook ZD576 – a Mark 2 Boeing helicopter- crashed en-route from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to a conference at Fort George in Scotland on June 2nd 1994.
The “show flight” status was unknown to the pilots or the passengers. Indeed, the pilots requested to fly a safe Mk 1 Chinook or two Puma helicopters which were on stand-by. They were ordered to fly the dangerous aircraft, but they never knew why.
The unairworthy Mk 2 Chinook crashed on the Mull of Kintyre wiping out a top tier of intelligence and security experts in Northern Ireland. It was carrying 25 British intelligence personnel from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army.
Evidence which has been leaked to the families who are seeking a public inquiry - and available on the Chinook Justice Campaign website – proves that the aircraft was not airworthy and should never have taken off on that fateful flight: let alone as a “show flight”.
Retired Squadron Leader Robert Burke, who was unit test pilot based at RAF Odiham at the time of the crash, has revealed: “The reason the files have been locked away for 100 years is because the MoD is trying to protect the Air Marshals, in particular the one who signed an aircraft into service, knowing that it was unsafe.”
An acknowledged authority on Chinook aircraft, Burke examined many of the files at the time which he believes the MoD has since sealed for an unprecedented 100 years, and says: “Every time we discovered something, it was turning up a rock and finding something wriggling underneath. It started off as a relatively minor cover up, and then it turned into a major one, lies covering bigger lies, covering smaller lies.
“The reason why that aircraft was flown in spite of all the reservations and indeed the request from one of the dead pilots at the time was to show the Army that the Chinook programme was running on time and the Mk 2 was perfectly safe to go into service. It was a show flight.
“This journey – from airfield to airfield - was a perfect opportunity to fly such a high-profile group in an RAF Hercules for instance. Not in a helicopter about which there were so many concerns. It was a gesture, that flight. A reckless act, but a show flight – it’s as simple, and utterly tragic, as that.”
The former Squadron Leader reveals that the most experienced Boscombe Down test pilots even refused to fly their Chinook to RAF Odiham for a routine servicing - a trip of about 20 minutes – because of airworthiness concerns.
The two pilots on ZD576 were both United Kingdom Special Forces pilots, and the entire crew had exemplary service records.
Patricia Conroy, from South Belfast, whose father Detective Chief Superintendent Desmond Conroy, 55, was one of those killed, said: “I feel sick to my stomach to discover that this flight was a show flight to effectively try to end an argument between the RAF and the Army about the safety of the Chinook fleet. Instead that decision ended my Daddy’s life and started a lifetime of bereavement, trauma, and a search for the truth.”
Patricia was 22 years old when her father died.
"We are immensely grateful to Retired Squadron Leader Robert Burke, for having the moral compass and strength to provide this new information to the families.
“We want to know exactly who signed that 'show flight' off and why? Why allow a positively dangerous aircraft to carry 29 service personnel when other aircraft were available. We want to know why the files have been covered up to “protect the data protection rights of third party individuals” instead of helping to establish the truth?
“My Daddy should not have been allowed on that flight and he’d still be here, enjoying retirement if the MoD had listened to its test pilots and their concerns.”
The official RAF Board of Inquiry (BoI) found there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the pilots – Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook - had been negligent. Yet it took nearly 17 years to clear their names after they were wrongly accused of “gross negligence” by two RAF Air Marshals, who overturned the BoI’s findings.
The Boeing Mark 2 Chinook’s FADEC engine software experienced “unpredictable malfunctions” as well as “shutdowns and surges in power”. The aircraft was considered by test engineers at Boscombe Down “not to be relied upon in any way whatsoever” and Lord Philip’s Review in 2011 confirmed this was ‘mandated’ upon the RAF.
Relatives of the 29 who died formed the Chinook Justice Campaign last year after the BBC broadcast a two-part documentary on the crash, by Fine Point Films, which exclusively revealed that the files had been secretly sealed by the Ministry of Defence for 100 years.
It was that revelation, co-inciding with the 30th anniversary, which heightened suspicion by relatives that the MoD was engaged in a cover-up about the circumstances which led to the crash, and the deaths of 25 senior UK intelligence experts and four Special Forces crew.
The families are pursuing a Judicial Review against the Ministry of Defence and UK Government for failing to order a public inquiry under Article II of the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to life.
Solicitor for the families, Mark Stephens, CBE, from Howard Kennedy LLP, said: “Robert Burke’s shocking revelation would fully explain the apparent cover up by the MoD. They knew the aircraft was unsafe and released it for this flight, ordering the pilots to fly the Mark 2 Chinook without any of the passengers and crew being aware it was a ‘show flight’.
“It also explains why the pilot who requested to fly the safe Mark 1 Chinook was refused permission to switch the passengers to that aircraft. Remember also that one of the pilots upped his life insurance because he thought the Mk 2 was so unsafe to fly.”
A Change.org petition – change.org/JusticeForThe29 - set up a few weeks ago by the families and which calls on the Prime Minister to intervene and overrule the MoD by agreeing to a judge-led public inquiry, has attracted more than 26,500 signatures.
The families say the Ministry of Defence has “lost its moral compass” for summarily dismissing their demands for truth, transparency, a public inquiry and access to files which have been unjustly sealed for a century.
They accuse the Prime Minister – who has also rejected their calls – of hiding behind MoD lies and failing to live up to his promise of a legal Duty of Candour on public bodies.
The BBC is re-broadcasting the two-part documentary on the crash. The first episode of ‘Chinook Zulu Delta 576’ by Fine Point Films is due to be broadcast this Sunday August 17th on BBC2 at 9pm, with the second part transmitted on Sunday August 24th at 9pm. The programme will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
While the MoD claims a new inquiry will uncover no new evidence, no inquiry to date - whether individually or collectively - has properly examined why the families’ loved ones were placed aboard an aircraft which MOD test engineers at Boscombe Down warned was “positively dangerous” due to fatal flaws in its software and should be grounded.
The petition can be found at www.change.org/JusticeForThe29
Find out more about our Mull of Kintyre Chinook Crash campaign.
