Editing RAF Transport Command (section)

====Accidents====

Operating as it did under wartime conditions, Transport Command had a relatively high accident rate. Prominent accidents included a [[1943 Gibraltar Liberator AL523 crash|July 1943 crash at Gibraltar]], killing the Polish leader [[General Sikorski]] and several other senior figures in the exile government; a [[1945 Avro York crash|February 1945 crash in the Mediterranean]], killing eleven members of the British delegation to the [[Yalta Conference]]; and a [[Commando (aircraft)|March 1945 disappearance over the North Atlantic]] involving the aircraft formerly used as a private transport by Winston Churchill. 

Following these and other losses, in April 1945, concerns were raised in Parliament about the experience of crews and the maintenance of aircraft within Transport Command. One frequent issue reported was that VIP passengers were said to put pressure on crews to fly in difficult conditions; the Air Ministry reported that it had tried to put in place orders to prevent this.<ref>[https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1945-04-10/debates/57cdc224-9a0e-4375-b82a-a03c66ca479e/TransportCommand(SafetyOfPassengers) "Transport Command (Safety Of Passengers)"], ''Hansard'', 10 April 1945</ref>