Two “exceptionally talented” RAF student pilots who died after their plane crashed into a remote field in Yorkshire have been named by police.
The light aircraft they were travelling in crashed in fields between Castle Howard and the A64 north of York on Saturday.
North Yorkshire Police today named the victims as 25-year-old Ajvir Singh Sandhu from Essex and Cameron James Forster, 21, from Sussex.
Both men were student pilots in the RAF.
Group captain Ian Laing, station commander at Royal Air Force Linton-on-Ouse, said: "We were very saddened to hear of the deaths of Aj Sandhu and Cam Forster in a civilian flying accident at the weekend.
“They were both exceptionally talented young men in the prime of their lives. The thoughts of everyone at RAF Linton-on-Ouse are with their family and friends at this difficult time”.
Police said they received multiple calls from members of the public at about 10.40am on Saturday after the aircraft came down.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) are continuing to probe the cause of the crash.
Speaking at the scene on Saturday, Superintendent Mark Grange, of North Yorkshire Police, said the plane landed more than 200m away from the nearest houses and looked like it had come “straight down”.
He added: “[The aircraft is] in a bad way and it's obviously come down heavily. It's sat on its underside so it has not flipped.
“Whether they tried to land like that I don't know.
“I cannot say where they were going and what they were doing in the air.”
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