AN ARMY veteran has died after the plane he was flying crashed into the ground at a Herefordshire airfield.
Emergency services were called to Shobdon Aerodrome, near Leominster, after the fixed-wing light aircraft crashed.
Despite the efforts of medics, the pilot, named locally as 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment veteran Chris Waddington, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hero pilot Mr Waddington, who lived in Herefordshire, recently appeared in a BBC TV show to mark 40 years since the Falklands War.
Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story was the story of 10 ordinary men who fought alongside each other on the front line.
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Mr Waddington, 59, was among them. He was a second lieutenant at the time of the war in 1982, the most junior officer rank.
He had only recently finished his training at Sandhurst when, at the age of 19, he was called to lead a platoon of 20 men into the first battle of the Falklands War.
He was nicknamed ‘Boy Wonder’ such was his enthusiasm for his job.
After coming of age in the war, he remained a paratrooper for more than 20 years, serving in Bosnia and Iraq.
In recent years he has followed his passion of recreational flying, owning a Pitts biplane, and he also worked in private security.
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That Pitts biplane was seen in the skies over Herefordshire frequently, and in 2020 he performed stunts in the sky over Rotherwas as part of the final Clap for Our Carers event. He had also taken part in air shows from 2015, and had owned the plane for 22 years.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has now launched an investigation, attending the scene after the crash at 10am on Friday.
West Mercia Police said no one else was on board, there were no other injuries and no other aircraft was involved.
West Midlands Ambulance Service sent one ambulance, a paramedic officer and the Midlands Air Ambulance and found the pilot still in the plane, but nothing could be done to save him despite the best efforts of medics.
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