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Photos show one of the planes spinning out of control towards the ground while on fire over the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern around 2pm local time.

"Together with a third Eurofighter they were flying an air combat mission," the German air force said in a statement.

"The pilot of the third Eurofighter observed the collision and reported that two parachutes descended to the ground."

One of the pilots was found alive in a tree shortly after the crash, according to Ostseewelle radio.

(Image: GETTY)

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY)

He is now receiving medical attention.

The other was found dead despite managing to eject from the plane and open his parachute, it tragically added.

"This is a sad day for our air force," Defence Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen told reporters near the crash site.

"We lost a soldier in a flight accident.

"Our thoughts are with his family and his comrades."

The jets collided about 20 minutes after they took off, she said.

An armed forces spokesman said it was too early to say anything about the circumstances of the crash, and recovery teams were searching for the black box flight recorders.

The battalion based at Laage air force base, near Rostock, from which the aircraft took off, is tasked with training all pilots of 's 140 Eurofighters.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: EPA)

They were the first two of the jets that Germany has lost since it started flying them in 2004.

Ostseewelle radio, which first reported the crash, posted a video sent in by a listener which it said showed two plumes of smoke rising from separate crash sites some distance apart.

It described a field of debris around the area of the crash, which it said had ignited a small forest fire.

Some 400 Eurofighters – made by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo – are in service with militaries around the world.