The plane came straight for me — and flames engulfed me

“Next thing I knew, there were things coming over my head and I was engulfed in flame. Even with my eyes closed, I could see shadows. I thought I was going to die, but then it receded and it was very quiet.”

Milburn, a software engineer, believes he survived only because he was sitting on the grass rather than standing up. “I managed to lie down and curl up. The fireball went over me,” he said.

After the wreckage of the jet smashed into nearby bushes, Milburn climbed to his feet and ran down the road shouting for help. “My T-shirt didn’t feel quite right, it had gone solid,” he said. “The skin had gone a bit loose on my hands. I knew I had been burnt.

“I was shouting at everyone, ‘Go and help. Does someone have a first-aid kit? I’m burnt.’ ”

Staff at a gate to the airfield sat Milburn on a chair and began pouring bottles of water over him to cool his burns. He was then wrapped in cling-film bandages and taken to a first-aid centre. He suffered burns to his right hand, left leg and back, but hopes to be discharged from hospital in the coming days.

Milburn is among at least 18 people, including a baby in a pram, who were near the junction but, incredibly, survived as the fireball hurtled past. Eleven people died in the disaster at 1.20pm.

David, a former pilot in his fifties who asked for his surname not to be published, was standing around 20ft from the edge of the A27 with about six people.

Recalling his mounting concern as the aircraft entered into the loop, he said: “I was surprised that he came into the loop so low. When he started to climb I thought, ‘Oh God, he’s not going to try a loop, is he?’

“None of us could see the aircraft coming because the bushes were in the way. I said to the guy next to me, ‘This doesn’t look good. I’ve got a horrible feeling there’s going to be a crash.’ ”

As soon as he heard the sound of an explosion, David, who lives in Hove, East Sussex, started to sprint away from the road — a quick reaction that probably saved his life. Seconds later, the burning jet fuel hurtled through the exact spot where he had been standing.

“I knew the wreckage would be coming straight for us, so I moved as fast as I could,” he said. “I didn’t think about it, I just instinctively bolted. I got about 10-15ft before the wreckage went past. It was a horrible noise. I really did expect to die. I thought it would take all of us out.”

David believes the aircraft may have veered slightly to the right just before impact, which meant that it narrowly avoided the majority of the spectators. However, he fears three or four of those he was standing close to might have died. “If I hadn’t moved so quickly, I would have been one of them. One second makes all the difference. I spoke to one guy a few seconds before the aircraft went through — that’s what really traumatises me,” he said.

The Sunday Times has pieced together what happened to another group of people shown in a dramatic photograph standing by the junction and seemingly in the path of the burning wreckage. It was feared that some of them might have died, but Neil Lewer, 48, one of the survivors, believes they all miraculously escaped. “They all got away. That group in that picture did get away,” he said.

Lewer and his wife, Melanie, son Robin, 15, and daughter Joanne, 10, were slightly further back from the A27 than David when the jet, piloted by Andy Hill — who survived, but remains in a medically induced coma in hospital — crashed. Lewer and his son are shown in the picture. His wife and daughter are out of shot, ducking down behind their blue-and-white parasol.

“I just remember looking over to my right and seeing this fireball and wreckage come flying past,” he said. “It was milliseconds — so quick. We were just outside the trajectory of the debris.”

He remembers standing close to a father and son who had set up camera tripods to photograph the air display. Shortly before the explosion, they were joined by the man’s wife and a young woman, who appeared to be their daughter and who was pushing a baby in a pram. The family were 5ft from Lewer and also survived.

“They were actually a little bit closer to the debris as it came through,” said Lewer, who was also standing beside two other men later seen walking close to the debris.

Several yards behind Lewer, Kellie Atkins, 44, her two daughters, Ashley, 20, and Abbie, 17, and Ashley’s boyfriend, Imran Khan, had set up chairs for a picnic while they watched the air display. All four survived.

Phil Giles, a former air-crash investigator, said people could survive being very close to a “flame front” as long as it passed quickly and they were not hit by burning fuel or debris.

The survivors’ accounts came as a minute’s silence was held yesterday at a wooden bridge near the crash site, where flowers have been laid. A candlelit vigil was held on another bridge in Shoreham last night.

Six of the 11 victims have so far been formally named — Tony Brightwell, Matt Jones, Matthew Grimstone, Jacob Schilt, Maurice Abrahams and Mark Reeves. Daniele Polito and Mark Trussler are both missing, presumed dead.

Mystery of why pilot did not boost power

Air safety investigators are likely to focus on why the Hawker Hunter’s pilot appeared unable to get more power out of the jet in the final seconds before the Shoreham crash, writes Mark Hookham.

Phil Giles, a former air crash investigator, said that while the jet was low when it emerged from its loop, the pilot, Andy Hill, should have been able to recover by immediately increasing the throttle to gain speed. A failure to do so could have been due to a technical problem with the Hawker Hunter or because Hill had passed out.

“Why didn’t he just power out of it at the bottom of the loop?” said Giles, who investigated the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster.