Warbird Information Exchange

WWII fighter plane crash lands
A rare World War II fighter plane has crashed landed at an airfield in Essex.

Fire crews were called to North Weald Airfield where the Hawker Hurricane Mark II came down at 1140 GMT.

An Essex Fire Service spokesman said the plane is thought to have had a problem with its landing gear but no one was hurt in the accident.

The spokesman said no one was trapped in the plane and there was no leaking fuel. The Ambulance Service also attended the incident.

Peter [the owner] carried out a full flight in the Hurricane (his first) and then returned to the airfield for a couple of flypasts for me to get some pictures before he landed. His approach was textbook, as was the flair to land, but it appears that the wheels locked up forcing the nose to pitch forward. Thankfully Peter was at very slow speed, and thus the aircraft came to a halt on the blades, relatively quickly. We were quickly on the scene and Peter was obviously shocked but thankfully unharmed. The Hurricane has obvious damage to the prop and proberbly the engine. Both undercarrage doors are damaged, but not seriously. Time will tell how bad the internal damage may be, but she is back in the hangar.

A fantastic effort was made by the assembled 'help' to get the Hurricane back on it's tail wheel, without further damage.

Peter has received a flood of calls from well-wishers, this was much appreciated and he would like to thank everyone who took the time to get in touch. The damage to the aircraft is being surveyed and all steps necessary to get her back in to the air are underway, in order to have this unique aircraft participate in the 2009 airshow season.