A plane which crashed at a Hampshire airfield killing the pilot appeared to be flying with a number of replica historic aircraft, a witness has said.
Investigators look at the aircraft wreckage at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Nick Bayes said he saw “maybe a dozen” planes in the air when he was alerted to the crash on Saturday afternoon.
The civilian aircraft came down at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop.
Mr Bayes said he was surprised to see how close together the planes were. The Air Accident Investigations Branch and police are investigating.
Mr Bayes, from Andover, said the aircraft looked like World War I replicas and included biplanes and triplanes.
He added: “I was returning home… and saw a large number of replica aircraft doing circuits over the airfield. There were maybe a dozen or so in the air.
‘Very tragic’
“I stopped to take photos and a white van pulled into the lay-by and the driver said: ‘One has just crashed’.
The incident is being probed jointly by Hampshire Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch
“I could see smoke but not the aircraft.
“It was unusual because they were so close together. If it was not a display itself, it looked like they were practising for a display.
“The whole incident is very tragic.”
Emergency crews declared the pilot, who was flying alone and has not been identified, dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.
Police said they were alerted at 16:55 BST and have appealed for witnesses who saw the accident to contact them.
BBC
