Hawk jet down
Two crew escaped serious injury when they ejected before their jet plane crashed into the carpark at a Lincolnshire RAF base.
The two-seater Hawk aircraft narrowly missed the control tower when it crashed at RAF College Cranwell on Wednesday afternoon.
A Newark crew was among about 20 firefighters sent to the scene.
A trainee pilot and his experienced trainer, who had been on a training flight, safely ejected at 2.15pm.
They were flown by air ambulance to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, with suspected back injuries. Their families were quickly informed.
An air accident board of inquiry will aim to establish the cause.
There were no casualties on the ground. Three cars and a storage building were damaged.
An RAF College Cranwell insider told the Advertiser: “The two crew, a trainee pilot and the trainer got into difficulty and ejected and the plane narrowly missed the control tower.”
The Station Commander at RAF College Cranwell, Group Captain Nigel Wharmby, refused to say if the Hawk was on its way into land at the time it crashed.
Group Captain Wharmby said the response from military and civil authorities was outstanding.
“The immediate aftermath in ensuring the aircraft are dealt with properly can save lives,” he said.
“Accidents like this are rare but we practise regularly to ensure that if it happens we are able to cope very effectively.”
He did not know whether the pilot or pupil had time to issue a mayday call.
Station manager Noel Chapman, of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service, based at Grantham Fire Station, said: “The aircraft had come to a halt within the carpark. It damaged three cars. The plane was on its side. There was no fire.
“Our role was to support the RAF Cranwell fire crew. We were there for about four hours.
“The RAF crew remained there overnight. The aircraft will be removed pending investigation.”
He said crews were on stand-by with foam-making equipment in case the aviation fuel caught fire.
Police patrolled the entrance to the site until the early evening.
During the incident, only the emergency services were allowed on or off the base.
A resident of Flowerdown Avenue, opposite the crash site, said: “We heard it go bang. We thought it was a car that had crashed. We didn’t know what had happened.”
The BAE Hawk is used by the RAF aerobatic display team, The Red Arrows, and is in widespread military service.
The Hawk, as an advanced jet trainer, acts as a bridge between the basic training types and the fast jets that students may eventually qualify to fly.
RAF Cranwell is home to the Royal Air Force College, where new officers study eight-month training courses. Earlier this year, Prince William earned his pilot’s wings after graduating from the college.