IT was one of the most dramatic sights ever seen in the air above the town, according to the Gazette 25 years ago this week.

"Hundreds of people were watching as an RAF fighter pilot ejected from his doomed jet seconds before it crashed into a field near Malvern on Friday," it reported.

"A very loud bang, at 12.40pm, heard all over Malvern even by some people in their offices, was the first indication that something was amiss.

"Looking up, they saw the pilot ejecting from his £4 million Jaguar strike aircraft. As he was carried off downwind by his red parachute, the aircraft began diving towards the Three Counties Showground."

Eyewitness George Chaplin said: "The plane came around North Hill and over the Link when it suddenly banked right, turning inwards towards the hills. The pilot ejected, as the plane was on its side - there was a bang, an orange flash and a puff of white smoke. The plane levelled out again and turned away from the hill and put its nose down . . ."

The Jaguar crashed behind Poolbrook Road, smashing through trees lining a brook, before burying itself completely in the ground. The pilot landed in an oak tree at the Poolbrook sewage works, hurting his leg.

Soon after the crash, a USAF tanker aircraft and an RAF Canberra appeared in the skies above Malvern, apparently searching for the downed plane.

It turned out that the aircraft was flown out of RAF Abingdon in Oxfordshire, where it had just been overhauled.