UK police: one dead in U.S. Air Force jet crash believed to be pilot

LONDON (Reuters) - One person was killed on Wednesday when a military aircraft, believed to be a fighter jet, crashed on farmland after taking off from a U.S. Air Force base in eastern England.

'A military aircraft which had taken off from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk came down at about 10:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. Iowa time),” a police spokeswoman said. 'We can confirm one fatality and believe there was just one person on board the aircraft.”

The crash occurred in Redmere near Ely, a rural area about 70 miles north of London.

'We are hearing reports and we are awaiting further information about it,” said a spokeswoman for RAF Lakenheath, where the USAF's 48th Fighter Wing is based, in response to accounts that a U.S. F/A-18 fighter jet had crashed.

She said another U.S. base, RAF Mildenhall, was dealing with media inquiries. A spokesman for Mildenhall had no immediate comment.

Last year, four crew on board a U.S. Pave Hawk helicopter based at Lakenheath were killed when their aircraft crashed during a training exercise in a rural area on the north Norfolk coast.