Shackleton crash bodies flown to RAF base

Isles made the final flight to their home base.

The RAF Hercules aircraft, which had carried their flag-draped coffins

from Stornoway, landed at the Moray station in brilliant sunshine, in

sharp contrast to the mist-shrouded hill where they had died.

It taxied to a halt outside hangar K17 at exactly 11.30am and three

parties of pall-bearers from the station carried the coffins, one by

one, past a guard of honour.

Inside the hangar, 10 black plinths lay waiting in front of one of the

sister Shackletons of No 8 Squadron Airborne Early Warning to receive

the coffins.

Soon after the last was in place, the doors of the hangar were wound

shut, leaving relatives, fellow officers and airmen to share their grief

at a private service.

Later, as five hearses took the bodies to a funeral undertaker, many

of the 2500 officers, airmen and civilians on the station lined the

route to pay their last respects.

The Shackleton, nicknamed Dylan after a character in the children's

television programme, Magic Roundabout, crashed on Monday during a

routine training exercise.

The 10-man crew, including the CO of No 8 Squadron and another wing

commander, all died. The bases's worst peacetime accident left six

widows and 12 children.

The station commander, Group Captain Brian Pegnall, and Squadron

Leader Chris Booth, acting CO of No 8 Squadron, stood side by side with

three padres at the entrance to the hangar and saluted as each coffin

passed.

The body of Wing Commander Stephen Roncoroni, the 44-year-old CO of No

8 Squadron and brother-in-law of David Sole, Scotland's rugby captain,

was the first to be taken off the Hercules.

Wing Cdr Roncoroni, from Oxfordshire but who lived near the station,

was married with two daughters. He was one of two pilots on board the

Shackleton.

The other senior officer on board was Wing Cdr Chas Wrighton, from

Sussex, a navigator and CO of the Operations Wing, married with two

sons.

The co-pilot was Flying Officer Colin Burns, 23, a bachelor from

Glasgow.

The other crew members were Squadron Leader Jerry Lane, 53, a

navigator from Plymouth, married with two daughters and a son; Flight

Lieutenant Al Campbell, 36, a navigator from County Durham, married with

two sons; Flight Lieutenant Keith Forbes, 26, a fighter controller from

Aberdeen, who was due to be married next month; Master Air Electronics

Operator Roger Scutt, 45, from Hampshire, married with one daughter;

Flight Sergeant Rick Ricketts, 38, an air electronics operator, from

Somerset, married with a son and a daughter; Sergeant Graham Miller, 23,

air engineer, a bachelor from Manchester; and Corporal Stuart Bolton,

23, electronic technician, a bachelor from Burton on Trent.

The Board of Inquiry into the crash has ruled out any involvement of a

missile in the accident. An RAF spokesman said yesterday: ''The board

has investigated the possibility that the Shackleton was 'shot down' and

has discounted this as a possible cause. The result of the inquiry will

be announced in due course.''

A memorial service for the crew will be held on the station next

month, probably in one of the hangars as the station church is not big

enough.

As the ceremony was drawing to a close, two American F1-11 fighters

from an English base flew low over the station as one of them prepared

to make an emergency landing.

The aircraft had been at the Rosehearty bombing range when it suffered

a bird strike through the canopy. The pilot was ''blinded'' for a time

and had difficulty finding the station. However, guided by the other

aircraft, it made a successful landing. The pilot was unhurt.