Two of the RAF’s elite young pilots who died when their plane crashed into a field had been planning to do a “bit of aerobatics” it was claimed yesterday.
Cameron Forster, 21, and Ajvir Singh Sandhu, 25, were described as “exceptionally talented young men” by their base commander following the crash in North Yorkshire on Saturday.
Both were stationed at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, about 15 miles from where their aircraft came down, where some of the most promising young pilots train to fly fast jets for both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.
“We were very saddened to hear of the deaths of Aj Sandhu and Cam Forster in a civilian flying accident at the weekend,” said the station commander, Group Captain Ian Laing.
“They were both exceptionally talented young men in the prime of their lives.
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“The thoughts of everyone at RAF Linton-on-Ouse are with their family and friends at this difficult time.”
A spokesman at the Full Sutton Flying Centre, where the men chartered the single-engine Slingsby T67, said they had been planning to do a “bit of aerobatics”.
He added: “We were all a bit stunned when we heard what had happened — but flyers are a fairly stoic group.”
Experts from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch are looking into the potential causes of the crash near Castle Howard.
Speaking at the scene on Saturday, Superintendent Mark Grange, of North Yorkshire police, said the aircraft looked like it had come “straight down” from the sky.
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He said: “It looks like an aircraft, with two wings and a tail fin where it should be. It’s in a bad way and it’s obviously come down heavily. It’s sat on its underside so it has not flipped.
“Whether they tried to land like that I don’t know. I cannot say where they were going and what they were doing in the air.
“The fire service attended the scene just to make sure the area is safe because of worries about the amount of fuel. They have declared it safe.”
The plane had come down about 200 yards from the nearest home in fields between Castle Howard and the A64 at about 10.40am. Linton-on-Ouse, home to 72 Squadron, is one of the RAF’s busiest airfields and provides the basic training for those students selected for its Fast Jet stream.
The RAF claims that its fast jet training courses are the most sophisticated in the world, with its graduates expected to be able to fly its fleet of Typhoons and Tornados in combat.
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Training each pilot can cost upwards of £4 million with each newly qualified fighter pilot expected to have flown for hundreds of hours.
The courses have long attracted candidates of the highest calibre.