Police say two occupants of helicopter have died and two people in two-seater plane after crash near village of Waddesdon

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Four people have died after a helicopter and a two-seater plane crashed in mid-air over Buckinghamshire.

Police said it was “too early to tell” what might have caused the collision, and were focusing on identifying the victims and informing their next of kin. Two people were killed in each aircraft.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Thames Valley police have launched a joint investigation into the incident near Waddesdon Manor, which is managed by the Rothschild Foundation on behalf of the National Trust.

Paramedics, firefighters and police rushed to Wilderness woods, close to the village of Waddesdon, six miles from Aylesbury, at 12.06pm on Friday after members of the public saw the aircraft fall into the woodland.

Len Bellis, a gardener on the Wilderness estate, who arrived on the crash site just minutes afterwards, reported hearing a “horrendous mechanical noise” that “sounded like a tin shed collapsing”. He said moments that earlier, a shepherd on the estate had heard the sound of an aircraft spluttering.

Bellis drove to the site of the crash in his van where he found the 1.5-metre fuselage of the burning plane. He said that although he did not realise at the time, he was just metres from a body, which was in grass close to the wreckage.

“You wouldn’t have recognised the plane as anything. It was nonexistent,” he said.

The helicopter fell into the woods about 50 metres from the plane, according to the gardener.

A member of the Rothschild family, who lives on the grounds opposite Wilderness woods, said the mid-air crash had missed her by five minutes and she was “totally shocked”. Just minutes earlier, she had been picking plants in the woods.



She was driving near the woods when she heard a bang, but thought it was a car crash as a corner on the road nearby is an accident hotspot.

A spokesman for the nearby Wycombe Air Park, which often trains novice pilots, confirmed that both aircraft had come from the airfield.

A Notice to Airmen was previously issued to warn pilots that the airfield’s air traffic control services would be closed during three 30-minute periods on selected days between November 7-30 due to a “staff shortage”.

The crash occurred about half an hour after the latest closure was due to end.



The plane involved was a Cessna 152, built in 1982 and owned by Airways Aero Associations, which is based at Wycombe Air Park.

It had flown almost 14,000 hours as of May and had previously suffered substantial damage to its landing gear, propeller and engine after a crash at a Cornish airfield in 1993.



John Bercow, the local MP, said: “The air collision near Waddesdon is clearly extremely serious and I express my thanks to the emergency services for responding so quickly.

“Naturally, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch will need to look at this collision but in the meantime my thoughts are very much with those involved in the incident, and their friends and families.”







