§ 2.47 p.m.
LORD REAMy Lords, with the permission of the House, I should like to ask the Question, of which I have given Private Notice. It is as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make a statement on the naval helicopter accident last Friday in which Lord Windlesham and Squadron Leader Stott lost their lives.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, the helicopter belonging to H.M.S. "Hermes" was carrying three passengers—Lord Windlesham, Mr. Cronin, the Member of Parliament for Loughborough, and an R.A.F. officer, Squadron Leader Stott—from the ship to the R.N. Air Station, Brawdy. Lord Windlesham and Mr. Cronin had been spending a period at sea in H.M.S. "Hermes" under an Admiralty scheme to enable Members of both Houses of Parliament to visit the Fleet. One mile west of South Bishop's Island, while flying at a height of 1,000 feet, the aircraft suffered a total engine failure and came down in the 793 sea. It came down slowly under auto-rotation but on striking the rough water, it immediately rolled over, submerging the door. It sank in less than a minute.
Mr. Cronin and the crew of two were rescued alive and unhurt by another helicopter from H.M.S. "Hermes," after being in the water for about half an hour. Squadron Leader Stott was also picked up unconscious, but I am sorry to say that he subsequently died. Lord Windlesham was not picked up, and I very much regret that, in spite of a prolonged search of the area by aircraft from H.M.S. "Hermes" and from the R.N. Air Station, Brawdy, in which H.M. Ships "Duchess," "Berwick," "Scarborough" and "Lowestoft," as well as the St. David's lifeboat, took part, no trace of him has been found. On behalf of the Admiralty and the Royal Navy, I desire to express my profound regret at this tragic accident and my deep sympathy to Lady Windlesham and to Mrs. Stott.
A Board of Inquiry assembled yesterday on board H.M.S. "Hermes". Its report is expected in a few days. An attempt is being made to salvage the helicopter which is lying in 26 fathoms.
My Lords, I should like, if I may, to take this opportunity to say one word about Lord Windlesham, since he was a Member of your Lordships' House and known to all of us, in the case of Lord Rea and myself both as a friend and as a brother officer in the same regiment—and a very distinguished one at that. Although he did not speak as frequently as some of the rest of us in your Lordships' House, he was, I think you will agree, one of the most fluent and forthright of speakers. I remember vividly the debate which he led not so long ago on the subject of Polish pensions—a cause which he pursued tirelessly; and I am glad to think that he saw his efforts bear some fruit shortly before his death. He will be greatly missed on all sides, and I am sure your Lordships will have shared with me a sense of personal shock that his life was cut short in this tragic way.
LORD REAMy Lords, I should like to thank the First Lord of the Admiralty for his full, sympathetic and frank reply about this tragic occurrence, which involved a Member of your Lordships' House while he was actively doing his Parliamentary duties for this House and another place. Perhaps your Lordships will allow me to endorse what the First Lord said, to say how shocked and grieved we are and to express our very deep sympathy with the relatives of both these victims of a most unusual tragedy.
VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHMy Lords, may I say on behalf of the Labour Opposition how much we sympathise with the expressions from the First Lord of the Admiralty at the end of his announcement this afternoon? It is a great loss to the Liberal Party, because although, as the First Lord said, Lord Windlesham may not have spoken as often as some Peers, he was not an infrequent speaker and he spoke often with great force and wisdom. While I did not always agree with what he said, I should like to say that we always appreciated Lord Windlesham's contributions to our debates. I suppose this must be almost the first accident of this kind—I do not recollect another—in the Royal Navy in respect of Members of either House of Parliament actually visiting them for information and knowledge of the work of a Government service. Therefore, it is all the more remarkable that an accident should have happened in these circumstances.
From what I gather from the Press and wireless reports, I should like to pay a special tribute to the gallant action of the man who descended from the first rescuing helicopter. This is one of the special bits of work in such circumstances of which we can be very proud. Although the action did not have the fullest success in rescuing all the members of the Party, nevertheless, I should like to pay a tribute to that man who went down and to the whole of the crew of the helicopter that carried out the rescue. I hope that this sort of accident may never occur again.