THE RAF has apologised for supervisory failings over the deaths of an Abingdon pilot and a 15-year-old school boy in a mid-air collision last year.

Flight Lieutenant Mike Blee, from Abingdon, and Nicholas Rice, 15, from Calcot in Reading, died when their Grob Tutor trainer aircraft and a glider collided above Drayton in June 2009.

Two investigation reports from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and The Royal Air Force said a medical condition known as Ankylosing Spondylitis - limiting the mobility of Mr Blee’s head - was a contributory factor in the crash.

However the RAF said its failure to question the tutor pilot’s medical fitness for the role and a lack of training into aircraft abandonment contributed to the cause of the crash.

Minister for defence personnel, welfare and veterans, Andrew Robathan said: "The RAF has apologised privately to the bereaved families for the shortcomings in its supervisory processes and I wish to restate that apology today."

The glider pilot, Henry Freeborn, from Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, parachuted to safety. Mr Blee was conducting aerobatics at the time.

See tomorrow's Oxford Mail for a full report.