RAF investigates first crash of a Hawk T2 trainer

A Royal Air Force BAE Systems Hawk T2 crashed on 23 September after its two occupants ejected, the service has confirmed. The single-engined trainer went down near RAF Valley on Anglesey in north Wales with an instructor pilot and a student aboard.

Footage circulating on social media appears to show the jet pitching nose-high twice before the ejection, then descending with white smoke trailing from its fuselage before it struck the ground.

The RAF said an investigation has begun and that it would not comment further at this time.

No T2-model Hawk had previously been lost by the service, making this the first crash involving that variant. The type is operated from Valley by 4 Sqn. Cirium records the remaining 27 examples in service as between 14 and 17 years old.

Decisions on what will replace the T2s, and the Hawk T1s still used by the RAF's Red Arrows display team, were listed among the priorities in the UK's Defence Investment Plan published in July. The Ministry of Defence followed that in August with a request for information tied to its planned Jet Training System acquisition.