The pilot of a 1942 Westland Lysander was forced to make an emergency landing near Cayuga on Saturday afternoon.

At about 12:30 p.m., the pilot lost engine power at about 1,000 feet in the air, said Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum president Dave Rohrer.

Haldimand County OPP said the plane was being operated by a 64-year-old man from Haldimand County, and was also carrying a 61-year-old woman from Newington, England. The plane, which made an emergency landing near Highway 3 in Cayuga, sustained serious damage, an OPP press release said.

Neither of the occupants was injured.

The Lysander was on a sightseeing flight that took off from the museum at 9280 Airport Rd. in Mount Hope. Lysanders, many of which were built in Malton, Ont., by National Steel Car, were famously used in missions to fly in agents and pick up escapees in occupied France and Belgium.

The seasoned pilot, an aircraft maintenance engineer, was not able to regain power to the engine, but "did an excellent job" in his "forced approach" into the field, said Rohrer.

The engine failure is not necessarily due to the age of the plane, Rohrer said.

"What's critical is the level and degree of maintenance," said Rohrer, adding that the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum has a high standard of maintenance, but sometimes parts "designed by humans" simply fail.

The cause of the failure at this point in time is undetermined, but the emergency landing will mean a complete survey of the airplane, followed by a complete teardown and subsequentoverhaul.

The Lysander will eventually return to the fleet of 42 historic aircraft at the museum.

The National Transportation Safety Board was contacted.