MARINES: Pilot killed after US F-18 jet out of Miramar crashes in England

October 21, 2015 1:20 pm

LONDON � — The pilot of a U.S. Marine Corps F-18 was killed Wednesday when the plane crashed near a British air base in eastern England, U.S. and British officials said.

The U.S. Embassy in London confirmed the death of the pilot, who was not immediately identified. No other casualties were reported.

The plane was an F-18C Hornet from Marine Attack Fighter Squadron 232 based in the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, the Marine Corps said.

Cambridgeshire Police said it had taken off from the Lakenheath air base in eastern England. “There is believed to have been one person on board, and there has been one confirmed fatality,” the force said.

Cambridgeshire Fire Services said the plane crashed on farm land in Redmere in Cambridgeshire, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Lakenheath.

The twin-engine F-18 comes in single-seat and two-seat versions.

A year ago, a U.S. Air Force F-15 crashed in a field near the air base. The pilot was not seriously hurt.

In January 2014 four U.S. Air Force crew members based at Lakenheath died when their helicopter hit a flock of geese and crashed during a training mission.