§ Mr. Robert Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the recent Tornado crash at Straubing in West Germany.
§ Mr. PattieThe Tornado aircraft which crashed on 15 April in the Federal German Republic was the fourth prototype aircraft, which operated from 55W the Messerschmitt-Böolkow-Blöhm—MBB—flight test centre at Manching, near Munich. It took off from Manching on a routine test flight, with a German crew, as part of the tri-national development programme. At approximately 1340 GMT it crashed at Straubing—about 70 miles from Munich—and both members of the crew were killed. A board of inquiry has been convened consisting of official representatives of the three nations involved, and it is now investigating the circumstances of the accident. It is too early to comment on the possible cause of the crash, but there is no evidence, so far, from over 3,500 hours of Tornado test flying which would justify grounding the aircraft.