Body found in hunt for pilots

The two pilots were based at Lakenheath in England

Rescue teams searching for two missing United States airmen in the Scottish Highlands have found a body.

The body - believed to be one of the missing pilots - was found several hundred feet from the wreckage of an American F15C jet which had been located in the Cairngorms.

Search teams have been hunting for two single-seater F15C aircraft which went missing on Monday afternoon.

We have got a couple of areas that still have not been searched and they are our priority for tomorrow

Pilot Officer Russell Gleeson

They located the wreckage of one aircraft half a mile south east of Ben Macdui after following the scent of aviation fuel - and within hours they also discovered the body attached to a parachute.

Pilot Officer Russell Gleeson, who is involved in the co-ordination of the search, told BBC Scotland that a helicopter was taking the body to Aberdeen.

The ground search party, which was experiencing "absolutely terrible" conditions, has now been withdrawn from the hills for the night.

"We have had 60mph winds, the freezing level has been very low, they have been suffering the wind and snow is above the knee. It is causing great difficulties," he said.

And he admitted that conditions were expected to be even worse on Wednesday.

Scent of fuel

"We have got a couple of areas that still have not been searched and they are our priority for tomorrow - along with sending a team back to the crash site to firmly establish that there was just the one aircraft there," he said.

He said the wreckage had been found after one of the mountain rescue team members picked up the scent of fuel.

It was sighted roughly half a mile south east of Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms - close to the area where the last radar contact was made with the pilots' two F15C fighters on Monday afternoon.

There have been fears that the two aircraft may have collided during low level exercises.

Flight Sergeant Dave Wilcox: "Never give up"

Pilot Officer Gleeson said this was a possibility.

But he added: "They failed to get a mayday out or eject, which is the norm when you have a collision."

They were looking at the possibility that the planes had crashed straight into the mountain.

The Royal Air Force said rescuers from the RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team had discovered the body.

A spokesman said the identity of the dead man was not known, and the information could not be confirmed until next of kin have been informed by the United States Air Force.

The incident in Scotland was the second involving US aircrew in one day. Two airmen were killed in Germany when their twin-engine propeller aircraft crashed in a forest on Monday.

Qualified pilots

The US Air Force named the two pilots missing in Scotland as Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Hyvonen and Captain Kirk Jones.

Both men were qualified F15 pilots and had taken off from Lakenheath air base in Suffolk, England, at 1230BST on Monday.

The last contact occurred when the aircraft made an air traffic transmission to RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland at 1315BST.

A massive search was launched in the Cairngorms area on Monday involving RAF Nimrod aircraft and Sea King helicopters and mountain rescue teams.

Rescue aircraft faced difficult conditions

The search resumed on Tuesday morning but rescue co-ordinators said white-out conditions had been hindering their efforts, with helicopters unable to get airborne.

About 100 members of six mountain rescue teams have been involved.

Flight Sergeant Dave Wilcox, of the RAF Leuchars Mountain Rescue Team, said: "The pilots who fly in this area are equipped with survival equipment and the clothing that they wear is designed to keep them alive.

"We will never give up until we find some finality to this."

A team of USAF crash investigators has arrived in Scotland, together with two giant helicopters which could be used in the search.

A spokeswoman for USAF Lakenheath said Lt Col Hyvonen was a member of the 48th Operations Support Squadron and Capt Jones was a member of the 493rd Fighter Squadron.

She said Lt Col Hyvonen had been in the USAF since 1984 and based at Lakenheath since 1999.

Capt Jones had been in the air force since 1997 and based at Lakenheath since 1999.