Fighter jet crash in England kills US pilot
The pilot of a US Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet died in a crash about 70 miles north of London.
Police work near the scene of a jet crash, in Redmere, Cambridgeshire, England, Wednesday. The pilot of a U.S. Marine Corps F-18 died Wednesday when the plane crashed near a British airbase in eastern England, US, and British officials said.
Chris Radburn/PA via AP
London
The pilot of a U.S. fighter jet was killed on Wednesday when it crashed on farmland after taking off from a U.S. Air Force (USAF) base in eastern England, officials said.
The U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet came down in Redmere near Ely, a rural area about 70 miles (110 km) north of London.
Lakenheath, home to Europe's only F-15 fighter wing, is the largest USAF-operated base in England with 4,500 active-duty military personnel and 2,000 British and U.S. civilians, according to its website.
Last year, four crew on board a U.S. Pave Hawk helicopter based at Lakenheath were killed when their aircraft crashed during a training exercise in a rural area on the north Norfolk coast.
In 2001, two single-seat F-15Cs from Lakenheath crashed while on a low-flying training mission over Scotland, killing both pilots.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)