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The 2005 Royal Air Force Hercules shootdown was the loss of a Royal Air Force Lockheed C-130K Hercules C3, serial number ''XV179'', callsign Hilton 22, when it was shot down in Iraq, probably by Sunni insurgents, on 30 January 2005, killing all 10 personnel on board. At the time, the incident was the largest single loss of life suffered by the British military during Operation Telic. The Board of Inquiry report in December 2005 identified the lack of a fire-suppressant system as a contributory factor. In September 2006, the British Channel 4 News aired an article criticising the Ministry of Defence for having fitted only one C-130 Hercules with a foam fire-suppressant system. The RAF had ordered a retrofit of this system to all front-line C130 aircraft, a system which could well have prevented the loss of aircraft ''XV179'' and its crew. ==Incident== On 30 January 2005, Hercules ''XV179'' took off from Baghdad at 1622 local time. It was to fly at low level to Balad to deliver freight and the single passenger Acting L/Cpl Steven Jones of the Royal Signals. Six minutes later it reported a fire on board, L/Cpl Jones, stating: "No duff, no duff, We are on fire, we are on fire".〔("Last call from doomed Hercules played at inquest" ) ''The Sun'' 02 Apr 2008〕 and it was confirmed "missing" at 1655. American Apache helicopters located the crash site 45 minutes after the distress call. As the site was in a hostile area, the priority was for human remains, personal effects and classified material to be recovered at the time. Part of the right hand wing had been detached and it was found over a mile from the crash site. The investigating team was only able to spend a short time at both sites. G Squadron of the 22nd SAS Regiment immediately began hunting down the insurgents responsible, after a long intelligence operation that led to operations later in that year the SAS captured those some of those responsible.〔Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq '', St. Martin's Griffin , 2012 ISBN 1250006961 ISBN 978-1250006967, p.73〕 By 3 February the site had been looted and the wreckage taken; it was decided not to attempt to recover the wreckage from the looters. Those killed included eight crew from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, another RAF serviceman and one soldier.〔(BBC NEWS UK Hercules crash site search ends )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2005 Royal Air Force Hercules shootdown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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