By Chris Hughes
Two RAF aces are missing feared dead tonight after a mid-air collision between a pair of Tornado GR4 ground attack jets.
Emergency rescue teams recovered two more aircrew from the sea after the crash but their condition is not known.
A frantic search and rescue operation was launched immediately after the planes – crewed by a pilot and a navigator – went down at just before 2pm.
A rescue helicopter winched up two airmen an hour later.
Tonight, lifeboat crew brought some plane wreckage ashore as light at the c
Two RAF aces are missing feared dead tonight after a mid-air collision between a pair of Tornado GR4 ground attack jets.
Emergency rescue teams recovered two more aircrew from the sea after the crash but their condition is not known.
A frantic search and rescue operation was launched immediately after the planes – crewed by a pilot and a navigator – went down at just before 2pm.
A rescue helicopter winched up two airmen an hour later.
Tonight, lifeboat crew brought some plane wreckage ashore as light at the crash site began to fade.
The search has now been called off due to bad weather but is expected to start again in the morning.
It is thought the planes collided and the two aircrew recovered were able to eject from their Tornado before it hit the sea.
Both RAF warplanes plunged into the Moray Firth about 25 miles south of Wick near the Beatrice oilfield, in Caithness.
RAF Lossiemouth, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Wick, Invergordon and Buckie RNLI lifeboats were involved in the initial search.
Other vessels in the area later volunteered to join the hunt for the wreckage.
rash site began to fade.
The search has now been called off due to bad weather but is expected to start again in the morning.
It is thought the planes collided and the two aircrew recovered were able to eject from their Tornado before it hit the sea.
Both RAF warplanes plunged into the Moray Firth about 25 miles south of Wick near the Beatrice oilfield, in Caithness.
RAF Lossiemouth, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Wick, Invergordon and Buckie RNLI lifeboats were involved in the initial search.
Other vessels in the area later volunteered to join the hunt for the wreckage.