The inquest is taking place in Oxford, before deputy coroner Andrew Walker.

Mr Robertson, the SNP's spokesman on defence, said: "Hearing the flight recording of the last minutes of Nimrod XV230 at the court today proved the bravery and professionalism of the crew. There were a lot of family members in the courtroom, and it must have been particularly distressing for them.

"The tape was played to the families last week, but today (Monday), it was played to the whole courtroom and is now on the record."

The families have had to wait almost two years for the inquest to take place, while the MoD and RAF carried out a Board of Inquiry.

It concluded last December, and in an unusual step, the MoD took responsibility for the accident after the inquiry identified a catalogue of failings in the way the planes were inspected and maintained. The age of the aircraft was deemed to be a factor in the tragedy, leading to a public apology to the families in Parliament by Defence Secretary Des Browne.

The Board of Inquiry came to the conclusion that the accident was caused by a leak of fuel that burst into flames on contact with uninsulated hot air pipes, but said that contributory factors included not only failings in maintenance, but also the lack of a fire suppressant system in the bay next to the fuel tank.

Much of the inquest to date has seen expert witnesses discuss mid-air re-fuelling, and Mr Robertson said he had heard two members of the Tristar tanker, which refuelled the Nimrod on September 2, being cross-examined.

"The air-engineer of the Tristar and the co-pilot appeared on Monday and answered questions about what happened during the refuelling," he said. "They said that from their plane, nothing out of the ordinary took place."

However, Mr Robertson said that, under questioning, they admitted that they collected only data from their own plane, and nothing from the plane into which the fuel was being transferred.

Earlier in the inquest, several RAF witnesses had been questioned, and the coroner and families heard evidence on fuel leaks, which had apparently triggered alarms on previous flights on other Nimrods, and were known to be a problem.

"Fuel problems are clearly still an ongoing issue for the ageing Nimrod fleet," said Mr Robertson. "The revelations at the Coroner's inquest underline why safety priorities must come first.

"Hopefully all questions will be answered at the inquest and help ensure that this kind of tragedy is never repeated."

Last week families and members of the press were told that they could visit a Nimrod at Brize Norton, and Mr Robertson said there was surprise in the courtroom when the coroner asked the defence team if it was true that the Nimrod that should have come down from Kinloss was not, in fact, the aircraft they were expecting.

"I heard from four different sources that the Nimrod set to make the journey was grounded because of fuel problems," he said.

The inquest was scheduled to last three weeks, but Mr Robertson said it was already behind schedule.

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