Spitfire crash death was accident, inquest finds

A former commercial pilot died after losing control of a replica Spitfire during takeoff, an inquest has found.

Peter Hughes, 71, died when the plane crashed and caught fire at Enstone Airfield near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire on 28 July 2024.

At an inquest earlier this week, a jury inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court ruled Hughes' death had been an accident caused by the ensuing fire.

The hearing found that the plane had crashed after losing control soon after it had taken off, with the reason for this not being ascertained.

Hughes had been the only passenger in the model Spitfire, and no one else was injured in the incident.

The replica of the Second World War fighter plane had been built in 2013.

An investigation by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded last year that the plane had pivoted to the left during takeoff, before flipping over and crashing.

It found no technical defects which would have affected the controllability of the aircraft.

The AAIB report said CCTV and witness reports showed the aircraft "pitched up sharply and then rolled rapidly to the left" towards the edge of the runway.

The left wingtip struck the the ground and the plane flipped over and caught fire, fatally injuring Hughes.

The report said "no definitive cause" was established for the loss of control.

In a statement released after his crash, Hughes' family said they were "devastated" by his death.

"Pete was an extremely good man who was deeply generous in so many ways; his love, his time, energy and spirit, and was an integral part of the numerous communities that he held dear," the family added.

The crash was the second involving a replica Spitfire from the airfield within 10 months.

In 2023 Trevor Bailey, 68, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, died flying a replica Spitfire near Enstone.