A man in one of the most horrifying photographs of the Shoreham air crash fireball appears to have escaped with his life.
The spectator was shown to be a few feet from the Hawker Hunter jet moments after it crashed into the A27 and hurtled 400 yards down the road. Wearing a blue hat, he can be seen recoiling in the shadow of the jet’s blazing wing, leading to fears that he was killed. However, footage shows him standing at the site of the crash later.
Three generations of one family who were standing yards from the man on the same roadside verge are also believed to have survived.
Police said that 11 people were highly likely to have died and that “it’s becoming increasingly likely that will be the final figure”. At one point police feared the death toll could rise to 20.
A photograph taken by a spectator showed the Hawker Hunter breaking into pieces and trailing a plume of fire after it hit the A27. To the right of the jet people believed to be aircraft enthusiasts appear to be running away. On the left side of the group is a man in a blue cap, pink shirt and white shorts. A man in the same clothes was photographed in the aftermath of the crash gazing at the road as smoke rose around him.
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Witness accounts from others on the grass verge suggested that a mother, her baby and the baby’s grandparents also survived. The verge, by a junction on the westbound side of the A27, gave a clear view over Shoreham airfield to the south, where the display took place.
Abbie Atkins, 17, who was on the verge, said that a mother and her baby escaped the scene covered in “blood and things”. She said that she later saw them with the baby’s grandparents in a first aid tent. “I remember the sound of it hitting and the heat. My mum got burnt on her back and her legs. There was stuff all over me. I haven’t slept.”
She said that a group of about 15 people were standing between the road and her family, who were sitting on deck chairs looking towards the airfield. She suggested that she had seen Mark Trussler, 49, a missing motorcyclist, among them.
A family said their lives were saved when they were let through traffic lights moments before the crash. The family left an anonymous card on yellow roses with other floral tributes to Maurice Abrahams, 76, who was stationary at the junction when the fighter jet hit the ground. “We cannot change the past but we would like his family to know he is a hero and I wish I could have met him to say thank you and to have met a wonderful gentleman,” it said.
Another witness said that the pilot of the Hawker Hunter appeared to have been operating its controls moments before it smashed into the A27.
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Tony Harris, 72, of Worthing, said that the flaps on the wings were moving moments before impact, suggesting that the pilot, Andy Hill, was conscious.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) indicated that Mr Hill was in control of the jet when it crashed and that he did not use his ejector seat.
Mr Harris was at the Farnborough Air Show in 1952 when a de Havilland DH110 crashed and killed 29 spectators. On Saturday he was in the same section of the crowd as Terry Hallard, 72, who told The Times on Monday of his escape from the Farnborough crash.
David Learmount, a former RAF aerobatic trainer, agreed with Leslie Hatcher, also a former RAF aerobatics trainer, who told The Times on Monday that the Hawker Hunter should not have had two “drop tanks” under the wings.