Ashington serviceman's widow pays tribute to loving father

She said: "Mark was an exceptionally professional, talented and dedicated RAF helicopter crewman, a wonderful, warm and loving husband and a father, who excitedly looked forward to watching his young sons grow.

"Unfortunately he didn't reach his first Fathers' Day. We will miss him very much. As this has been a very long and difficult process, we request that the family are left in peace."

Sara Holland, Sgt McLaren's sister, said her brother was "the joker in the pack".

She said: "Mark was a loving son, brother, husband and father who due to this tragic accident had no time to spend with his twin boys, who he adored."

DEATH SPARKS CALL FOR CHANGE

The coroner at the inquest yesterday said he will make a series of recommendations to improve the RAF Puma helicopter fleet after hearing of the death of the two servicemen.

After recording a narrative verdict, coroner David Masters told the inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall he would report to the Armed Force Minister and recommend the Puma fleet is fitted with improved safety harnesses, censory equipment and accident data recorders (ADRs).

The five-day inquest previously heard the aircraft's rotor blades clashed with those of another Puma as it landed near Taji in the early hours of April 15 last year.

Sgt McLaren and Clr Sgt Powell, from Porthcawl, in South Wales, were "flung" from the helicopter and were found dead underneath the aircraft, which had rolled on to its right side.

A Home Office pathologist found Clr Sgt Powell died of multiple injuries, and Sgt McLaren died of traumatic asphyxia.

The coroner recorded separate narrative verdicts for each of the servicemen, outlining the events leading up to their deaths.

Mr Masters said he would report to Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth with five recommendations.

The inquest heard Sgt McLaren was fastened in with a harness which had to be repeatedly adjusted to allow him to move.

An improved belt, designed before the collision, is yet to be installed, the inquest heard.

The coroner said: "I'm concerned by the time it has taken for the modification to be put into service, and I shall recommend that the modified pigtail harness is installed without delay.

"It would prevent a properly secured crewman from being thrown out of an aircraft such as this."

The inquest heard the RAF require a minimum separation criteria (MSC) of 10ft between an aircraft and a fixed object, such as a building or tree.

In flight formation, the guidelines recommend a distance of two rotor spans between helicopters - roughly 30m (98ft).

The inquest heard pilots and crewman were not specifically trained to land so closely to moving objects, including rotor blades.

The coroner said he would recommend rotary crews are "instructed" to judge distances between aircraft fuselages.

He added: "Rotary crews required to land in close proximity to other aircraft without ground markings should be able to install laser or other devices to objectively judge distances."

The coroner said he would recommend "consideration" be given to installing grab handles in cabin doors, which had been removed from the Puma fleet to make way for a new machine gun.

Finally, he said he would recommend cockpit voice recorders, which record audio in the aircraft, are always enabled, after hearing the CVR on this occasion was not. Mr Masters said the Puma fleet should also have accident data recorders fitted, commonly known as black boxes. Clr Sgt Powell and Sgt McLaren were on a mission as part of a five Puma task force - each carrying between 12 and 16 troops - and came into land in dark, cloudy conditions on flat terrain at 12.59am.

The lead helicopter - Puma One - overshot the intended landing site, referred to as "field one", and was forced to hover backwards some 50m (164ft).

Puma Two, in which Clr Sgt Powell and Sgt McLaren were travelling, came into trouble after it too reversed and attempted to land alongside Puma One.

A number of anonymous soldiers and RAF personnel gave evidence at the inquest from behind a blue curtain and described hearing a "loud bang" as the helicopters clashed.

The main rotor blades had struck each other and as a result Puma One's tail boom broke and debris from the broken blades was launched into the air.

Puma Two went into a dynamic rollover, tipping to the right, and its blades struck the ground.

The pilot of Puma Three, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he saw the two servicemen being thrown from their aircraft as he hovered some 50m above the crash scene.

Four other servicemen in Puma Two were injured, one of them very seriously. Everyone on board the Puma One escaped with minor cuts and bruises.

Clr Sgt Powell and Sgt McLaren were rendered unconscious immediately and were found dead beneath Puma Two.

Two more British servicemen were killed in a Puma, again near Baghdad, in November last year. The preceding August, three personnel were killed when a Puma crashed in North Yorkshire near Catterick garrison.

After another pilot died in a Puma crash at Basra in 2004, an inquest raised safety concerns over the aircraft, the oldest helicopter in the RAF.