Pilot dies as vintage French air force jet plunges into sea

The pilot of a vintage French air force jet was killed when he crashed into the Mediterranean in front of hundreds of people watching a display to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings.
A show by the Patrouille de France, the aerobatic team of the French air force, was cancelled after the Fouga Magister, a 70-year-old privately owned aircraft, slammed into the sea just off Le Lavandou, a town 12 miles west of Saint Tropez.
The aircraft, produced from the 1940s as the first French jet trainer, was performing manoeuvres offshore parallel to the coast and was in a steeply banked turn when it descended towards the water. Gasps rose from the crowd, who had gathered to commemorate the Nazis being driven out of southern France in 1944.
Emergency crews found the body of the 65-year-old pilot, who had no chance to bail out. The highly manoeuvrable first-generation jet, a type that was used by the Patrouille de France for its displays from 1964 to 1981, has no ejector seat.
Dozens of witnesses posted videos of the crash, which happened at 5pm, on social media, creating confusion. Many claimed that one of the air force team’s Alpha jets had crashed.
The local state official issued a statement pointing out that the Magister, a subsonic aircraft, was privately owned and flown by a civilian pilot.
The air force team, which took part in the Paris Olympic Games ceremonies, has been performing over the Mediterranean this week for celebrations of Operation Dragoon, the August 1944 landings by Allied forces in the area around Toulon.
President Macron, who is on holiday nearby, led the main ceremony on Thursday.
The vintage jet demonstration was to precede the main show, led by the Patrouille de France. The event was cancelled after the accident.
The Fouga Magister, registered F-AZPZ, was one of a few surviving examples of the aircraft.
Earlier this week, two French air force Rafales, the country’s top-of-the-line fighter bomber, collided mid-air in eastern France. A pilot and a pilot instructor were killed. Another pilot survived after ejecting.