§ 1. Mr. de Freitasasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he will make a statement on the accident at London Airport to the Avro Vulcan.
§ 2. Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he will now make a statement on the Vulcan bomber accident at London Airport.
§ 13. Mr. Skeffingtonasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is now in a position to make a statement on the Vulcan bomber accident at London Airport.
§ The Secretary of State for Air (Mr. Nigel Birch)I regret that, for the reasons explained by my right hon. 370 Friend the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation last week, I cannot yet make a statement.
§ Mr. de FreitasIs there not something wrong in this enormous delay? Is it not a strange fact that the public, whose aircraft this was and whose airfield this is, are denied information? It appears that the Government are shifting the blame from one Department to another.
§ Mr. BirchThere is no question of shifting blame from one Department to another. The Royal Air Force Court of Inquiry, which reported very quickly, said that certain matters needed further investigation within M.T.C.A. Those investigations are going on. I will make the fullest statement I can as soon as I can.
§ Mr. HunterWill the Minister endeavour to speed up the inquiry? This unfortunate accident has caused very great concern to the large residential population around London Airport. If the crash had taken place just outside the airfield boundary, there would have been a terrible disaster. In the interests of the local population, I hope the Minister will speed up the inquiry.
§ Mr. BirchI have taken every step I can to speed it up, but it is an important inquiry which cannot be speeded up faster than the Chairman can conduct it.
§ Mr. SkeffingtonIs the Minister aware that the local authorities around the airport, of which there are a large number, are also very deeply concerned about what might have happened if the aircraft had crashed elsewhere than within the boundary of the airfield?