RESCUE service staff say two men are lucky to be alive after their light-aeroplane crash-landed yesterday morning.

The Europa two-seater aircraft came down 80 yards short of the runway at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, near York shortly before noon.

The pilot had contacted the base moments earlier, saying he wanted to make an emergency landing, but the plane crashed into a farmer's ploughed field and overturned before breaking into two pieces.

RAF medics and firefighters rushed to help the men and had to use airbags to lift the cockpit off the ground so that the pair could be released from the wreckage.

The men, who have not been named but are believed to be from Holland, were airlifted to York District Hospital by a Sea King helicopter.

A spokesman for the Ambulance Service said that one was suffering from neck injuries and the other from shock.

The plane had taken off from Wombleton Airfield, near Helmsley, minutes before the crash and had been on its way to Manton, in Kent.

It is believed to have been suffering from engine trouble when the pilot made his emergency call to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Station commander Group Captain Andy Sudlow said that the pilot's decision to choose Linton for his emergency landing was very fortunate.

"They were quite lucky to come down here rather than at an isolated airfield because the fire engines and the ambulances were already here and the Sea King search and rescue helicopter was dispatched straight away," he said.

Geoff Farnworth, the ambulance service's emergency planning manager, said: "The RAF medics were first on the scene and did a superb job. Having seen the wreckage, both patients are very lucky to have survived."

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said: "The aircraft actually cartwheeled on landing and ended up upside down."

The Air Accident Investigation Branch is now planning to look into the circumstances of the crash.

A spokesman said: "We are sending a report form to the pilot. He will most likely be the best person to tell us what happened."