THIS WEEK IN 1998: Helicopter crash is £75m headache
An accident to a prototype helicopter being developed by a Portsmouth company sent the bill to the taxpayer for the project soaring by £75m, a government watchdog revealed.
The Merlin EH 101 pre-production prototype aircraft – being developed by Lockheed Martin – suffered the accident in Milan, Italy, in August 1996.
This would go on to cost £75m because of an eight-month delay before flying restarted, according to a National Audit Office report.