HC Deb 21 December 1979 vol 976 cc414-5W
Mr. Sheerman

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many lives have been lost, both civilian and military, from accidents involving RAF aircraft in training manoeuvres in the period 1945 to the present.

Mr. Pattie

RAF aircraft accident statistics, which are available only from 1946, do not discriminate between crashes which occurred on training flights and those on operational missions. The information readily available on the number of lives lost as a result of these accidents is as follows:

Civilian Military Total
1946–63 * * 3,684
1964 1 34 35
1965 0 69 69
1966 1 32 33
1967 0 61 61
1968 0 40 40
1969 0 21 21
1970 0 23 23
1971 2 73 75
1972 1 23 24
1973 2 21 23
1974 1 5 6
1975 1 15 16
1976 0 22 22
1977 3 7 10
1978 0 24 24
1979 to date 3 8 11
4,177
* Breakdown between civilian and military not available.

Mr. Sheerman

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF aircraft have been lost during training manoeuvres during the period from 1945 until the present date; and what has been the cost of these losses.

Mr. Pattie

RAF aircraft accident statistics, which are available only from 1946, do not discriminate between crashes which occurred on training flights and those on operational missions. The number of aircraft damaged beyond repair or missing was as follows:

1946–63 4,720 (average 262 per year)
1964 57 (average 31 per year)
1965 35
1966 52
1967 47
1968 42
1969 26
1970 29
1971 38
1972 27
1973 25
1974 12
1975 16
1976 25
1977 14
1978 20
1979 (to date) 25

Information on the cost of all these losses is not readily available and could not be obtained without disproportionate effort.