LONDON (Reuters) - A United States Air Force fighter jet crashed into a field in eastern England on Wednesday but the pilot was safe after ejecting from the aircraft.

Police said they were alerted by members of the public that a jet had come down in a field in Lincolnshire at around 1430 GMT.

"We can confirm it is a U.S. Air Force F-15," Capt. Carolyn Glover, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said by telephone. "We can also confirm that the pilot is safe."

Pictures published by local newspapers showed an aircraft in flames with plumes of smoke rising above a field of green crops.

Glover declined to say where the F15 had been heading to.

Sean Gough, an eye witness quoted by the BBC, said he heard a loud roaring noise and noticed a pilot ejecting from the plane.

No details were immediately available on the cause of the crash.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison)