A TEENAGE air cadet and an RAF instructor were killed when their plane hit a glider in a mid-air collision near Abingdon.

The pair were in a Tutor training aircraft from RAF Benson when it was involved in a crash with a glider in the air above Drayton.

The pilot of the glider parachuted to safety after the crash, which happened at about 2pm.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a plane nose-dive towards the ground and hearing a massive bang as it crashed into a field by Church Lane.

Other onlookers told how the glider broke into two pieces mid-air and the pilot parachuted to the ground.

A spokesman for RAF Benson would not confirm or deny reports the training plane had come from the south Oxfordshire base.

Father-of-one Andy Brook, 43, of Sutton Wick Lane, Drayton, said: “I was working in the garden and I heard this whining noise which sounded like a plane doing aerobatics.

“I looked up and saw a single engine white aircraft heading down towards the ground really fast. It was literally a nose-dive at a 90-degree angle. It was probably about four- or five-hundred feet up and about 300 yards from the house.

“There seemed to be a small pall of smoke coming out of the engine. Then it thumped to the floor. I was expecting an explosion, which never occurred and then I asked my wife to phone 999.”

Another 24-year-old witness, who asked not to be named, said: “I saw one parachute fall out of the sky, the engine of the glider stopped and then it came down and someone parachuted out. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Two ambulances, an ambulance car and the air ambulance were scrambled to the scene and police sealed off all routes into the oilseed rape field where most of the wreckage was found.

Tonight, investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), part of the Department for Transport, were trying to work out why the crash happened.

Leila Draycott, of Drayton Park Golf Club, said several club members saw the crash from the neighbouring course.

She said: “Two guys saw it happen when they were on the 16th tee. They just looked up in the sky and they saw the plane just going down, really, really fast.

“They saw it crash into the ground.

“ Then they saw a parachute and they also saw a glider and they saw it blew up into little pieces. They said there was no way anyone would have got out of it. They said it was a massive bang.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We can confirm that the pilot and passenger were killed. The pilot was RAF and the passenger a CCF (Combined Cadet Force) cadet.

“The civilian glider pilot parachuted to the ground safely. A thorough investigation will take place, and we will take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence of this tragic event.

“It is too early to comment on the cause of the incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the passenger and pilot at this time. Next of kin have been informed.”

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