On this day in September 1979, a Royal Air Force (RAF) plane crashed onto houses in a Cambridgeshire town, killing two men and a young boy.

Both the pilots ejected safely when the two Harrier jump jets collided at about 8,000ft (2,438m).

One of the planes broke up in midair and fell harmlessly into a field but the other dropped onto
the centre of Wisbech, destroying two houses and a bungalow.

Several people were injured in the accident, including a mother and her baby who were in one of
the semi-detached houses hit by the jet.

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The planes, which were both from the nearby air force base at Wittering, ran into each other at 0955 BST during a training exercise.

The Harrier that hit the town left a crater 15ft (4.6m) wide and 50ft (15.2m) deep on Ramnoth Road, and only narrowly missed two schools and the town’s college of further education in adjoining streets.

Local Liberal MP Clement Freud said it was a “miracle” the planes had not caused more death and damage.

The dead were identified as Bob Bowers, his two-year-old son, Jonathan Bowers, and Bill Trumpess, a former mayor of the town.

Susan King, the head of the local primary school only 300 yards (274m) away, said the plane had skimmed the roof of a building before exploding in a cloud of smoke that rose 100ft (30.5 m) in the air.