The two people killed when their training aircraft crashed with a glider in mid-air were an air cadet and RAF reservist, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The two-seater RAF Tutor single-engined plane is believed to have taken off from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire on an air experience flight for the Combined Cadet Force cadet.
The pilot of the glider managed to parachute from his stricken aircraft and he landed safely in fields at Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon.
Bill Baker was enjoying the sunshine in his back garden when he heard the plane and glider collide.
He looked up to see the plane spinning out of control.
“I saw the plane coming down. It was spiralling down and crashed about 300-400 yards away.
“It was spiralling round like a helicopter blade and as it got closer to the ground it started to go nose down.”
The glider was registered to the Mark Holden, who lives in Locks Heath near Southampton.
It is very tragic. We’ve got two families now that were devastated by the news today.
Inspector Brian Cooper, Thames Valley Police
His father Gerard Holden refused to say whether or not his son was the pilot who parachuted from it.
“The accident is subject to an investigation. It’s a shocking tragic accident and these things happen in aviation. I can confirm my son is absolutely fine but I am not going to confirm he was the pilot,” he said.
Inspector Brian Cooper said the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) were starting investigations but they could take a long time.
He said: “We have got multiple scenes, as you can imagine with two aircraft coming out of the sky, although it’s a relatively small area.
“We anticipate that there will be staff on scene for many many hours.”
It is likely many people saw the crash as there are several villages near the scene and the weather was particularly good, Inspector Cooper said.
He urged anyone to contact police if they had seen what happened, or recovered any wreckage and offered his condolences to the families involved.
“It is very tragic. We’ve got two families now that were devastated by the news today.
“Our officers and specialist family liaison officers have been with them offering them support.”
From the BBC