A RELATIVE of one of the men killed in the Iraq Hercules crash last year has started an online petition to get a safety device installed on the planes.

Sarah Chapman has begun the petition to urge the newly-appointed Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, to push for the installation explosive suppressant foam in the RAF's Hercules fleet.

She is the sister of Flight Sergeant Bob O'Connor, one of 10 people who died when Hercules XV179 was bought down by enemy fire north of Baghdad.

Since the petition launched on May 23 it has been signed by nearly 1,500 people, including current and former military personnel, families of the victims of the crash and MPs.

Among those signing the petition was 11-year-old Laura Brown, whose father Richie, an avionics specialist, was killed in the crash.

She said: "There should be foam so no-one else has to go through what I have. I am 11 and I lost my dad on XV179."

Other signatories question what they call Government penny-pinching' and call for the Government to invest in the equipment as soon as possible.

The parents of Kellie Merritt, the wife of Australian navigator Paul Pardoel, who was killed, have also signed up, describing their son-in-law as exceptional.

The board of inquiry into the crash, released late last year, said that the lack of such a fire retarding system was a contributory factor in the loss of the aircraft and since then the Ministry of Defence has announced that the foam would be installed on Hercules aircraft, but only those going into operational theatres such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is understood that the first Hercules to be fitted with the foam by engineers in Cambridge will be ready in July. But families say that this is not enough and that the entire fleet of Hercules including both the J and K variant of the Hercules used by the RAF should be upgraded. Ms Chapman said: "The Americans have had this technology fitted since the 60s and the Australians have followed their lead and actioned the fitting of foam suppressant to avoid any loss of life and aircraft alike.

"Are the lives of our service personnel worth less than their coalition counterparts?

"Our armed forces accept that they are to take risks but not unacceptable risks.

"It is not enough that suppressant technology is to be fitted to some of the Hercules aircraft at some point.

"It must be fitted to all the fleet with immediate effect.

Two of the dead came from Swindon Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42, of Stratton, and Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, 34, of Sparcells.

The petition can be found at www.petitiononline.com/XV179/petition.html