Red Arrows jet crashes into row of houses

By Mark Rosselli

A JET belonging to the RAF aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, crashed on to houses in a Lincolnshire village yes­terday after hitting a second Red Arrows aircraft.

The houses, two of which were badly damaged, were not occupied at the time, and both pilots parachuted to safety. More than 200 children were playing at a primary school about 250 yards from the crash. The accident happened at lunchtime as a formation of six Red Arrows was practicing near the team's home base at RAF Scampton, north of Lincoln. The exact details of the incident will be established by an RAF board of inquiry, but it appears that as the formation was traveling at about 1,500 ft, the flight leader's Hawk jet was hit by a second jet.

As both spun out of control, the pilots ejected; one jet landed in a field close to the village of Welton, about three miles from the airfield. The other crashed into a row of council houses at the edge of the village, clipping two with its wing tip before crashing into a third. Last night, the pilots were said to be in a satisfactory condition at Lincoln County Hospital, one with a broken leg and the other with minor chest and back injuries. Neither was named.

Some of those living near the crash were treated for shock; angry residents said that at the time of the accident, hund­reds of children were playing outside their schools. The village also has a secondary school with 800 pupils. The Rev Brian Pritchard, chairman of the school governors at St Mary's, said: "Nobody has been hurt, thank God — but if things had been just a bit the other way, a few more yards, it might have been a very serious accident."

The Red Arrows use the winter to bring in new members, but all are highly experienced pilots. Their Hawks, costing £3.5m each, are standard RAF jet trainers. The unit has lost 16 aircraft since it was formed in 1965, but there have been no fatalities since 1978, when two pilots died in a crash at their home base.