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Former Navy Aircraft Forced to Land 'Wheels Up'

A former Royal Navy aircraft, the Sea Vixen, was forced to make an emergency landing at RNAS Yeovilton on May 28.

The de Havilland Sea Vixen – the last one flying – was doing a flypast over Yeovilton when it suffered hydraulic failure, according to Jamie Cruickshank, the uploader of the video. He said, “It suffered hydraulic failure resulting with the landing gear not being able to be dropped. After circling around burning fuel and checking with tower if the have a visual on the landing gear it was clear the historic aircraft was going to have to land on its belly”.

Local reports corroborate this description, and confirmed the pilot was forced to do a controlled wheels up landing. They said the pilot was safe but the aircraft had been damaged on landing.

The plane was on its way back from an airshow at Duxford in Cambridgeshire at the time of the incident. Credit: YouTube/Jamie Cruickshank via Storyful