Although RAF Lyneham's Hercules transport fleet has an unrivalled safety record there have been a number of tragic accidents involving this aircraft since it first went into service in 1967.

And when accidents do happen they tend to hit the headlines because of the size and reputation of the aircraft which is known as the workhorse of the Royal Air Force.

The first major tragedy happened in 1969 when six crew members of a Hercules from 30 Squadron were killed when their aircraft ploughed into a field at Marston Meysey, close to the end of the runway at RAF Fairford.

As a journalist I was on the scene just an hour after the crash happened and it was blatantly obvious that the crew would have had no chance to escape from the plane which had burst into flames on impact with the ground.

A second terrible accident happened on November 9 1971 when another of Lyneham's Hercules plunged into the sea off the coast of Italy.

The aircraft from 24 Squadron was part of an early morning formation flying out of Pisa as part of an exercise codenamed Coldstream when it crashed.

It was one of the worst crashes in the history of the Royal Air Force and all the crew and 46 Italian paratroopers the aircraft was carrying perished.

The Hercules fleet has figured in virtually every military conflict the world has seen in recent history and has helped save thousands of lives flying aid and supplies to areas struck by famine and natural disasters.

But sadly tragedy struck again in May 1993 when nine people aboard a Hercules from No 70 Squadron were killed when it slammed into a remote Scottish mountainside.

The aircraft exploded in a ball of fire while carrying out what was described as a planned routine low flying exercise while on the way to RAF Lossiemouth.

The Ministry of Defence is very reluctant to make public the reason for military air crashes.

Usually they are caused by either bad weather conditions, engine or equipment failure, human error or enemy action.

But considering the hundreds of thousands of miles the Hercules has flown around the world in the past 38 years the aircraft has a record that is the envy of major civilian airlines.

And make no doubt about it, the men and women who fly the aircraft and the ground crews who keep it in the air are justifiably proud of this record.

During my many years as a reporter on the Evening Advertiser I have flown around the world on Hercules aircraft from Lyneham.

And I have always been impressed with the immense pride the station's men and women take in the maintenance and efficiency of the giant transport planes.

I was in Basra with the RAF in May 2003 just weeks after President George W Bush announced that the major conflict with Saddam Hussein was over.

I stood at the side of the runway as a Hercules touched down at what was Basra's international airport to become the first RAF plane to land in Iraq.

Lyneham ground crews had worked round the clock to make the runway safe and had installed new landing lights.

And there was an unmistakable atmosphere of satisfaction from the waiting ground crews when the aircraft taxied towards them.

I have interviewed Lyneham ground crews in the UK, the Far East, the Middle East and throughout the Balkans, and have seen with my own eyes how carefully the planes are looked after and maintained.

During my visit to Basra several ground crew members explained to me just how well the Hercules are looked after.

One said: "There is no aircraft flying for any civilian airliner in the world that is better maintained and checked. We check and check over again."

The Hercules safety record is widely acknowledged throughout aviation circles, but perhaps inevitably in view of the sheer number of miles the aircraft covers there have been accidents.

Martin Vincent