'The night a Chinook landed in my back yard'

The last thing Karen Levin expected as she and her husband sat enjoying a film in their living room one evening was a military aircraft landing yards from their house, 60 miles away from its base in Hampshire.

But that is just what happened when a Chinook helicopter made an emergency landing in a field near Bromyard, Herefordshire on Wednesday night.

"We were watching a spy movie on television, and then all of a sudden the whole sky lit up," said Levin.

"It was pitch black because we don't have any lights around here, so it was pretty scary."

The RAF describes the Chinook as an armed support helicopter with "a suite of self-defence equipment", capable of operating in environments "from arctic and desert to jungle".

It said the aircraft, based at RAF Odiham, landed as a precaution following a "technical issue".

Levin described the sound as it touched down as "thunderous".

"It was incredibly loud," she said. "It was so loud that it blew all the plants away from my terrace."

At first, the couple thought it was an air ambulance.

"But knowing it was some kind of military, you just think all sorts of things," said Levin.

"Because the world is like it is at the moment, we didn't know what was going to happen.

"And watching that spy film at the same time... It was like we were in some sort of 3D movie."

Once their nerves had calmed, Levin and her husband went for a closer look, where the crew told them they had been forced to land because of a fault with the gearbox.

The following morning, they delivered tea and cakes to the stranded service personnel, who were still waiting for a repair team to arrive.

Another Chinook later brought supplies and rations and helped set up a temporary camp in the field.

"And they're still there," said Levin. "I don't know how long it's going to be, because if you look at it now it's quite a mess down there."

Levin said "hundreds" of curious people had been to see the helicopter.

"The whole of Thursday was unbelievable," she explained. "They were parked on the sides of the road - we couldn't get out of our house."

Following the unexpected arrival, West Mercia Police warned drivers to be mindful when driving past or stopping to have a look, following a number of reports of vehicles causing obstructions.

Levin said that while it was quite a spectacle, she hoped the helicopter would be able to take off again soon so life could get back to normal.

She added that she would be watching eagerly from her kitchen window when that moment came.

"This time I might catch it as it takes off," she said.

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