Their Greatest Disgrace: The campaign to clear the Chinook ZD576 pilots

This book lays bare the way that the British Ministry of Defence, and the Royal Air Force in particular, mismanaged and then covered up the procurement of the Chinook Mk2 helicopter. Essential safety regulations were removed, circumvented and ignored under pressure from senior RAF officers to get a new aircraft into service. The result was an aircraft that was, by their own definition, non-airworthy - grossly unsafe. The subsequent Mull of Kintyre crash (the worst peacetime loss of life in recent RAF history) exposed those officers' actions to scrutiny - so they decided to blame the dead pilots to deflect attention from their own actions. The cover-up continued for many years, and to this day the RAF denies the basic facts that this excellent book sets out in forensic (and sometimes nearly unbelievable) detail.Well written, a good read, and essential for anyone with an interest in how the UK buys and operates its military aircraft. Oh, and the proceeds from sales are going to charity.Buy it now.

Detailed, very well written book concerning the Mk2 Chinook accident on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 killing all 29 on board which was incorrectly ascribed by the Air Officers to gross negligence on the part of the pilots.It forms the first part of a series of three texts by David Hill concerning the ongoing drive to get to the truth that the the aircraft was not airworthy and should not have been flying.It is a totally damning account of lies, diversions and obfuscation at every stage from the Air Officers at the very top of the RAF, the MoD, members of both Houses of Parliament and successive governments who obstructed the inquiry process at every stage and in every way feasible. This was in order to cover up complete mismanagement and fundamental failings in these same institutions, which were the real culprits.The British State at its very very worst.Thankfully the truth is now coming out although there remain many unanswered questions, for instance:Why were all the key intelligence people in one aircraft and who made and sanctioned the change from the original two Pumas for the journey?Why was the cover up needed? It is clear that there remains a lot to discover.It has very strong parallels with other recent scandals including the infected blood and Post Office Horizon scandals.Of note the manufacturer of the Chinook is Boeing. Well there’s a surprise then!

Great read ,I am pleased they were able to clear the pilots names,But for so many high ranking people telling lies tp cover there own backs is a disgrace.I would recommend this book if you are interested in how they tried to cover it up.

Hard to put this book down. For anybody like myself who has worked on military aircraft this book became a page turner. Some have criticised the extensive use of acronyms, unfortunately that goes with the territory and most are in the handy list at the beginning of the book. Although there are some that are not however the expanded version is not too far away before the acronym occurs.I am ex RN FAA as an airframes and engines engineer, with time on front line jets such as Sea Vixen and Phantom, moving on the an extended period on a trials unit tasked with roll change modification development on a range of aircraft types including Hunter, Canberra, Sea King, Sea Devon, Sea Heron and Lynx. With that latter one of the tasks involved with an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) TI (trials installation) on an IFTU (intensive flying trials unit) Lynx was the fitting of the very type of threaded insert (for bolting equipment down) into honeycomb section shelving. Now this I did over forty years ago so the precise parameters of curing the epoxide 'putty' are lost to me but what I do know is that to specification curing is unlikely to occur in the average MoD hangar of the period, no matter how long it was left to cure. Besides a part of the mix, micro-balloon powder was hygroscopic would absorb moisture from the atmosphere – another factor for curing in a hangar. This powder was hollow spheres of epoxide material smaller than a coffee granule (on second thoughts it was very like drinking chocolate granules – that fine) so low in density that a paper coffee cup (we used these for weighing out the powder on a chemist's balance - proportions of the mix components being important) half full of the powder would be emptied by a sneeze at a distance of about three feet not directed at. See pp 222-223 in book.Another TI I was involved in was on Sea Kings which required the fitting of a heavy piece of kit about 80cm x 60cm 30cm deep. The shock mounts at each corner were of similar values and rated for fixed wing use - launched from a US carrier. The CofG (centre of gravity) of this unit was off near the rear right corner, imagine a rule of thirds frame across the unit, the CofG was near the far right intersect. Calculations and research provided alternative shock mounts with which the unit was then vibration tested, a suitable combination being found to attenuate the vibrations rather than amplify them as occurred with those rated for fixed wing usage. See p 65 in book.I mention all this because there are points in the book where such scenarios are mentioned.Having also read Steuart Campbell's 'Chinook Crash' I now look forward to David Hill's next book 'Breaking the Military Covenant: Why British Servicemen Are Dying Unnecessarily'.

This book is a must read just from the standpoint of making you aware of the shocking arrogance, incompetence and sheer evil behaviour of certain individuals in the MoD. Loathsome characters demonstrating the worst of human nature. Fortunately it is tempered by the sheer hard work and intelligence of a group of people who worked tirelessly to undo the wicked actions of the MoD. Perhaps I am just too stupid for the writing of this book but I did find it quite difficult to get through it. The first 40 pages felt like I was reading the terms and conditions of a mobile phone contract. It felt more like a statement of facts rather than a flowing narration. Whoever, as I say, that could be more than the writer. At the end of the day the most important point is the story and the outcome and for that I must commend this book to everyone.

This is a 'must read ' for any engineer and especially anyone who has either worked or is working for an organization that interfaces to the MoD.I think to fully appreciate all the nuances of the storyline you may need to have actually worked in a position that interfaces to the MoD and Boscome Down as I did when working for BAe for over 10 years although the basics should be understood by everyone as it is very well written.

This is a book that was literally decades in the making. Dave Hill has produced a book brimming with authority and insight. He joins a small number of individuals who worked inside the Ministry of Defence willing to use the evidence of the MoD against itself. The cynical, and for 17 years, successful, ploy to blame the pilots posthumously must never be forgotten. The full story of this crash is still to be told but Their Greatest Disgrace moves us a step closer.

As an American CH47 pilot who was unaware of this accident I thought it could be an opportunity to learn more about its history and potential design flaws so I know what to look for in my own aircraft but I am 50 pages in and don’t know how I will finish it. The author assumes the readers have a good deal of knowledge about the accident which I did not, therefor I am forced to do research elsewhere to even finish this book.The book begins immediately with a deep dive into the specific errors, lies, and faults of the ministry of defense over many years but without any description of the accident or pilots onboard it is really hard to hold my attention. There are many references to other aircraft accidents and proof of negligence but again, without knowing how or why this chinook crashed it just sounds like a laundry list of people to blame.I fortunately am familiar with the aircraft systems but feel sorry for the reader to comes here without that experience as it is not very well written for non-chinook pilot.All in all. This is a book about flaws in the ministry of defense, not about an aircraft accident. It’s in the title so I guess the blame is on me.