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Two Air Training Corps cadets and their RAF trainers have been killed in a mid-air crash between two light aircraft near the south Wales coast.
They died near the seaside resort of Porthcawl just before 1100 GMT. The cadets were teenage girls, thought to be related.
The Grob planes were involved in 20-minute "air experience" flights from RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan.
The wreckage was spread over about half a mile near a nature reserve.
Three separate inquiries are under way into the crash.
At least one of the twin-seater planes was on fire when emergency services reached the scene.
One eyewitness told the BBC she saw two planes hit each other, before she heard an explosion.
Group Captain Andrew Naismith describes the loss to the "RAF family" of the cadets and their tutors to Penny Roberts.
Reena Callingham told the BBC News website she was putting out her washing when she saw two planes flying close together.
"I just couldn't believe it. At first there wasn't an explosion straight away but then there was. They just went down," she said.
Police said wreckage was strewn across quite a wide area and officers were receiving reports from members of public coming across the debris.
( :( )
I spent four years in the Air Cadets and went on countless flights like this. One yeah, in the summer of 1997, while on ATC camp in Cheshire, we were taken flying at (I think) RAF Woodvale. I refused to fly. I loved flying, but that day I refused to go up.
A week to the day later, after our Wing had handed over to the next group of cadets to camp there (who had the same schedule as us) one of the planes they were flying went down with an ATC instructor it in and he and the pilot died. I've googled the fuck out of it, but I can't find the original story. I just remember being really freaked out at the time.
It always bothers me when it's Air Cadets, because I spent so long doing that, and I know how exciting those days are for kids. The first time I went flying, the guy I was with took me cloudbusting - flying through thick cloud and doing aerobatics. It just... ugh. Those poor kids.
They died near the seaside resort of Porthcawl just before 1100 GMT. The cadets were teenage girls, thought to be related.
The Grob planes were involved in 20-minute "air experience" flights from RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan.
The wreckage was spread over about half a mile near a nature reserve.
Three separate inquiries are under way into the crash.
At least one of the twin-seater planes was on fire when emergency services reached the scene.
One eyewitness told the BBC she saw two planes hit each other, before she heard an explosion.
Group Captain Andrew Naismith describes the loss to the "RAF family" of the cadets and their tutors to Penny Roberts.
Reena Callingham told the BBC News website she was putting out her washing when she saw two planes flying close together.
"I just couldn't believe it. At first there wasn't an explosion straight away but then there was. They just went down," she said.
Police said wreckage was strewn across quite a wide area and officers were receiving reports from members of public coming across the debris.
( :( )
I spent four years in the Air Cadets and went on countless flights like this. One yeah, in the summer of 1997, while on ATC camp in Cheshire, we were taken flying at (I think) RAF Woodvale. I refused to fly. I loved flying, but that day I refused to go up.
A week to the day later, after our Wing had handed over to the next group of cadets to camp there (who had the same schedule as us) one of the planes they were flying went down with an ATC instructor it in and he and the pilot died. I've googled the fuck out of it, but I can't find the original story. I just remember being really freaked out at the time.
It always bothers me when it's Air Cadets, because I spent so long doing that, and I know how exciting those days are for kids. The first time I went flying, the guy I was with took me cloudbusting - flying through thick cloud and doing aerobatics. It just... ugh. Those poor kids.