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| WWII plane crashes near airshow | WWII plane crashes near airshow |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A WWII plane taking part in an airshow has crashed, according to police. | |
| A spokesman for Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex confirmed the aircraft - thought to be a World War II plane - went down in countryside. | |
| He said the accident happened away from the airfield on Saturday afternoon and no spectators were hurt. | He said the accident happened away from the airfield on Saturday afternoon and no spectators were hurt. |
| It is not clear how many people were on board the plane but the spokesman described the accident, which happened one mile from the airfield, as serious. | It is not clear how many people were on board the plane but the spokesman described the accident, which happened one mile from the airfield, as serious. |
| A Sussex Police spokesman said: "There has been an aircraft crash that was taking part in the Royal Air Forces Association show. | |
| They were doing a mock dog fight and it looked like the plane was doing a dive, but it was going too fast and smashed straight into the ground. Holly Russell | |
| "It has crashed into a field north of the airfield. At this stage I am unable to confirm if there was a fatality." | |
| Tim Deakin, who saw the plane plough into the hillside, told BBC News 24: "The main point of the show was a Second World War dogfight between some Messerschmitts and some Spitfires. | |
| "Midway through the dogfight one of the planes, I'm not sure which one, literally, turned quite steeply, went into almost a straight dive and ploughed into a hill probably about a mile from the airfield. | |
| "There's still quite a bit of confusion about which aircraft it was." | |
| Formation flypast | |
| Two Spitfires carried out a flypast in the "man missed in action" formation shortly after the crash, he said. | |
| Around 20,000 people were expected to attend the airshow. | |
| Spectators said the airshow was delayed for about 30 minutes but organisors said over the tannoy system that the pilot would have wanted them to carry on. | |
| Eyewitness Holly Russell, from Worthing, said: "They were doing a mock dog fight and it looked like the plane was doing a dive, but it was going too fast and smashed straight into the ground. | Eyewitness Holly Russell, from Worthing, said: "They were doing a mock dog fight and it looked like the plane was doing a dive, but it was going too fast and smashed straight into the ground. |
| "It was nose down... There was a mushroom cloud of black smoke." | "It was nose down... There was a mushroom cloud of black smoke." |
| A spkesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said they were unable to say whether anyone had been killed or injured. |