The airshow business is having a bad time, of late... as evidenced (again) by Saturday's loss of a World War II British Hawker Hurricane... one of less than a dozen still known to be flying. The Saturday accident occurred during a WWII reenactment with two Me-109s and an Me-108 at the Shoreham Air Show in Sussex (UK).

The pilot, as yet unidentified, perished in the crash which was part of a Battle of Britain dogfight routine that tragically culminated in the aircraft's loss a mile away from the airport near the Sussex pad pub.

A witness to the accident, Tim Deacon, described the circumstances, “The Spitfires and Hurricanes were taking part in a re-enactment of a dog fight with some Messerschmitts when suddenly it veered off to the left. It flew off to the left quite steeply and we saw it crash into the downs in a big fireball – just the other side of the A27... A massive plume of black smoke went up. Moments later the show stopped and we heard over the loudspeaker that there had been a crash and there would be a half hour delay on the proceedings."

Another witness (one of some 20,000 reported at the show), Holly Russell, told the BBC that, “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.”

A Sussex Police spokesman reported that, "At 3:20 pm (1420 GMT) today a single-crewed Hurricane aircraft taking part in an aerial display at the Shoreham Air Show crashed into a field, killing the pilot. Emergency services put in place contingency plans at the air show and are on the scene. No other planes were involved. Next of kin have been informed."

The show was suspended for the better part of an hour before continuing in the pilot's honor, with a Missing man formation flown to reflect on the events of the day. The accident occurred at approximately 1523, local time, on the first day of the annual airshow, organized by the Royal Air Force Association (RAFA), which is well-known for their WWII fly-bys and reenactments.

The world-renowned Hawker Hurricane was designed by Sydney Camm and a team under the direction of the British Air Ministry. The first prototype flew on 6 November 1935, some four months before the first Spitfire. The 300 mph test flight was piloted by P.W.S ('George') Bulman, while production birds took to the sky in October of 1936. By the start of the war, nearly 500 Hurricane MK Is were in the air, supporting 18 squadrons. More than 15,000 Hurricanes were built, including nearly 3000 that were sent to the Soviet Union. The last Hurricane rolled off the production line in September 1944 but continued to see service until 1955.

The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch will be carrying out an investigation into the accident.

FMI: www.shorehamairshow.com