Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash
On 2 June 1994, an RAF Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in Western Scotland, during a flight from RAF Aldergrove outside Belfast.[1]
The passengers included senior figures from RUC Special Branch, MI5, the Army and the Northern Ireland Office.
- The loss of the cream of Northern Ireland intelligence officers was a blow to the Conservative Government of the time, temporarily confounding the anti-IRA campaign.
- The crash posed some embarrassing questions - such as why the UK's top anti-terrorist personnel flew together.[2]
Contents
Victims
RAF flight crew
- Flight Lieutenant Jonathan Paul Tapper - Captain
- Flight Lieutenant Richard David Cook - Co-Pilot
- Master Loadmaster Graham William Forbes - Crewman
- Sergeant Kevin Andrew Hardie - Crewman[3][4]
Northern Ireland Office
- John Robert Deverell - MI5, most likely Deputy Director General, although some sources suggest he was still Director and Co-ordinator of Intelligence (Northern Ireland) (DCI NI).
- Stephen Lewis Rickard - MI5, probably DCI NI.
- Michael Bruce Maltby - MI5
- John Stuart Haynes
- Martin George Dalton
- Anne James - GCHQ employee [4][5]
The Guardian reported in 2002 that five other MI5 officers died along with Deverell.[5] However, Christopher Andrew's official history of MI5 claims that only three other members of the service were on board.[6]
RUC
- Assistant Chief Constable John Charles Brian Fitzsimons - head of RUC Special Branch
- Detective Chief Superintendent Desmond Patrick Conroy
- Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Neilly - Head of Special Branch North Region
- Detective Superintendent Philip George Davidson
- Detective Superintendent John Turbitt Phoenix (Ian Phoenix)
- Detective Superintendent Robert Patrick Foster
- Detective Superintendent William Rutherford Gwilliam
- Detective Chief Inspector Dennis Stanley Bunting
- Detective Inspector Stephen Davidson
- Detective Inspector Kevin Michael Magee[5][4]
Army
- Colonel Christopher John Biles - Assistant Chief of Staff (presumably at HQNI)
- Lieutenant Colonel Richard Lawrence Gregory-Smith
- Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias
- Lieutenant Colonel George Victor Alexander Williams
- Major Roy Pugh
- Major Richard Allen
- Major Christopher John Dockerty
- Major Anthony Robert Hornby
- Major Gary Paul Sparks[4][5]
External resources
Notes
- ↑ Chinook ZD 576 - Written Evidence, House of Lords, 31 January 2002.
- ↑ Q&A: Chinook crash inquiry, BBC News Scotland, 3 June 2004.
- ↑ Mull of Kintyre Review Report, p.12, accessed 2 September 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Chinook ZD 576 - Written Evidence, House of Lords, 31 January 2002.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The 29 who died, The Guardian, 6 February 2002.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.785.
