Sea Fury crash: Charity hopes fighter plane will fly again

The plane was badly damaged by the impact

The charity operating the historic Hawker Sea Fury plane that crashed in a field in Somerset said "there is always hope" the aircraft will fly again.

The Sea Fury T.20 made a "precautionary forced landing" near the RNAS Yeovilton naval base on Wednesday afternoon.

Its pilots were taken to hospital as a precaution and one stayed in overnight.

Jock Alexander, from the Navy Wings charity, said he hoped the plane would get back in the air "but looking at the pictures, it does look a bit dodgy".

The crash happened following a "problem with the engine", 10 minutes into a routine training flight, Mr Alexander said.

"The pilots put a call out to the tower in Yeovilton," he said,

"They were then heading back to the airfield and it looks like there was some sort of engine failure on the way back."

Pictures taken by members of the public show the wreckage

He said it was a beautiful aircraft and he was "gutted" that a bit of history could have been lost.

"We only got this aircraft back on Friday afternoon from its annual maintenance, we've only had it back for four days," he said.

"This was a mechanical failure, I'm pretty sure but I can't speculate as there is going to be a full investigation."

The cause of the crash is under investigation

In July 2014 the Sea Fury crashed at RNAS Culdrose Air Day.

The Sea Fury was taking part in the aerobatic display in Cornwall when the plane lost power and crashed on to the runway.

The pilot walked away uninjured but the 1944 fighter - one of only three or four in the UK - was badly damaged.

It took three years and £350,000 to restore the plane and get it back in the air.