Spitfire crash lands at airport

A Second World War Spitfire has crash landed at an airport.

The vintage aeroplane came in to land at East Midlands Airport, where it is based, but as it did so the undercarriage collapsed leaving the aircraft beached on the runway.

The pilot was unhurt and the airport's own fire and rescue teams are dealing with the crash.

An airport spokesman said the runway is currently closed to all flights.

"The runway is shut and flights are suspended because of where the plane has come to rest," he said.

"All inbound flights have been diverted and outbound flights have been suspended, but we are expecting to be operational within two hours."

He advised any passengers booked on flights to check in as usual.

The incident happened at 3.19pm and the runway was reopened at 6pm after the damaged aircraft was removed.

An airport spokesman said: "The airport has been working hard to remove the aircraft from the runway.

"During this time, flights were temporarily suspended with seven aircraft diverted to Birmingham Airport. The aircraft has now been towed from the runway and after a final runway inspection, flights resumed at 6pm."