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@nick_h.
One of the BBMF Spitfires has crashed at RAF Coningsby. Pilot dead. (He also flew Typhoons.) Engine stopped seconds after take off. Aircraft came down a few yards from the end of the runway.
My first thought was that it's inevitable, albeit very rare, when a single engine aircraft operates from a small airfield which doesn't have safe areas to land in when the engine stops just after take off, which it will every now and again. Sod's law. The crash site next to Langrick Road is so close to the runway. Can anyone familiar with Coningsby identify the house in the news pics? https://news.sky.com/story/aircraft-...shire-13142278 https://maps.app.goo.gl/1PAmsyyHXcws8ASz5 The engine must have cut out at the worst possible moment, when the pilot had no option but to do a controlled crash straight ahead. Early reports say the aircraft flipped upon landing in a field. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/388312 Maybe the touchdown was safe but the flip was caused by the wheels digging into a rough and/or soggy field? Or maybe he banked in the final seconds to avoid the nearby house, thereby sacrificing himself? Those seem the likeliest scenarios to me. The worst possible luck, but nobody to blame. It's a pity that such an important airfield is so small. In other countries the national interceptor fleet would have many acres of space for all those things which go wrong when taking off or landing.