RAF jet is damaged in bird strike

The RAF Hawk was damaged but landed safely

An RAF jet was forced to make an emergency landing after its canopy was damaged in a bird strike.

The two-man Hawk T1A fighter jet landed safely at Durham Tees Valley Airport, after the incident above Barnard Castle, County Durham, on Tuesday.

The aircraft was on a routine training flight from its base at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire.

Both crewmen were unhurt. Police helped to recover fragments of the canopy from fields in the Barnard Castle area.

An RAF spokeswoman said the jet's canopy suffered "considerable damage", but that the rest of the aircraft was undamaged.

A spokesman for Durham Police urged members of the public to report any remaining fragments, but not to touch them as they may been needed for a subsequent investigation into the incident.

He said some fragments of the canopy, which resemble a car windscreen, and measured up to 1ft in diameter, had been recovered so far.