‘Seven killed in British air show crash’

A military jet has crashed during an airshow in southern England, killing seven people and injuring 15 others.

Onlookers watched in horror as two huge fireballs erupted near a tree line, before plumes of thick, black smoke billowed into the air.

The jet ploughed into bushes by the roadside. The crash happened at 1.20pm during a display at the show to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

After making sure his eight-year-old daughter was safe, Smith pulled people from stranded cars as flames engulfed the A27 in Shoreham, West Sussex. In 2007, Brian Brown, a stuntman who had performed aerial stunts in movies including the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”, was killed when the World War II fighter plane he was flying crashed during the show. The airshow that was hosted by the Sea Royal Air Force Association, to be held on 22nd and 23rd August, now stands cancelled following the unfortunate crash.

Mr Hill trained with the RAF in the 1980s and flew Harrier jump jet ground-attack fighters before retraining as a commercial airline pilot and setting up a business offering IT services to pilots.

The pilot was flown to the Royal Sussex Hospital where he is in a critical condition and fighting for his life, Superintendent Jane Derrick, from Sussex Police, said.

Gairo Gomez, who works at nearby Ricardo Technological Centre, said the whole building shook.

“The plane was coming out of a loop-the-loop, it was fairly low”, he said.

“I heard a huge bang and the glass was shaking and the doors were banging, the whole building was shaking”.

THE SHOREHAM Airshow crash dominated the front pages of the national tabloids and broadsheets this morning (Sunday, August 23).

David Cameron sent his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of those who died in the crash. However, dozens of his friends and family members have taken to Facebook to express their grief.

Three of the victims of the Shoreham Airshow crash have been named as Worthing United footballers Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, and personal trainer Matt Jones.