A TEAM of investigators has flown to Afghanistan to find the cause of a fire, which destroyed a RAF Hercules.
It is understood that the team left RAF Lyneham yesterday ultimately bound for the airstrip in the Helmand province, where the burned out wreckage of the transport plane now lies.
Twenty-six passengers and nine crew on board the older K version of the Hercules made a dramatic escape after an apparent tyre burst as the aircraft landed.
The tyre-burst sent debris into the engine which caught fire.
The blaze burned out the aircraft and the only recognisable piece of the Hercules left is its enormous tail fin.
The loss of another aircraft, the second in 15 months, will put increased strain on the RAF Lyneham's Hercules fleet, which is busier than it has ever been before, with crews across the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
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