Nimrod bodies come home
The bodies of 14 servicemen including a former Shropshire man who were killed in a Nimrod crash in Afghanistan were returned to Britain today. The body of Flight Sergeant Gerard Bell, who grew up in Telford, arrived along with the 13 other victims at RAF Kinloss in Moray, Scotland at 11.50am on Tuesday.
The Duke of Edinburgh, air force chiefs and senior politicians joined the families of the dead airmen for a repatriation ceremony at RAF Kinloss, after the C17 transport plane carrying the men's bodies landed.
Flight Sergeant Bell, who had only been in Afghanistan for two weeks, was based at RAF Kinloss with 120 Squadron along with 11 colleagues who also died in the crash.
Mr Bell's wife Fiona, formerly of Newport, their two daughters Anne-Marie, 24, and Charlene, 19, and his mother and father-in-law, Beryl and William Kane, from Newport, were expected at the ceremony.
A Royal Marine and an Army soldier on board the plane also lost their lives in the crash, which is thought to have been caused by a technical fault.
The plane left Afghanistan following a brief sunset ceremony and stopped at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire before heading north this morning.
The ceremony was being attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, who is Honorary Air Commodore of the station, and Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, who is Chief of the Defence Staff, and Chief of the Air Staff Sir Glenn Torpy 
were also attending.
Mr Browne said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed in this tragic crash.
"They were outstanding, brave and dedicated men. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.
"They were working towards making Afghanistan a safe and secure place as well as protecting our nation and its interests. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for that."
To the strains of Elgar's Nimrod the RAF men were taken one by one by the bearer parties from the C17 and placed in waiting hearses. In a half-hour ceremony, senior officers saluted as each coffin was brought from the plane.
After the ceremony, Air Chief Marshal Torpy, said: "The tragic loss of the Nimrod aircraft over Afghanistan last week deeply affected the whole of the Royal Air Force but obviously it affected the families and their loved ones even more deeply than that."
By Kirsty Marston
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