Terrifying moment two French fighter jets collide mid-air during display

This is the terrifying moment two French fighter jets collided mid-air during a national airshow at a military base in southwest France on Sunday.

The incident involved Rafale aircraft from the 30th hunting squadron and took place at the 709 Cognac-Châteaubernard base in Charente at around 12.40pm.

Both planes were able to land safely, however an investigation has been launched into the accident which left the top tail of one of the aircraft damaged.

This is the terrifying moment two French fighter jets collided mid-air during a national airshow at a military base in southwest France on Sunday (debris circled)

Colonel Nicolas Lyautey, commander of the airbase, said: ‘One of the [aircraft] lost a piece of its fin, which damaged the roof of a house when it fell.’

He added that the fighter jets landed ‘without difficulty’, ‘no one was injured’ and such a collision was ‘very rare’.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang during the session and one resident in the neighbouring village of Gensac-la-Pallue said that the debris ‘damaged a roof’ before ‘falling on the pavement’.

The incident involved Rafale aircraft from the 30th hunting squadron and took place at the 709 Cognac-Châteaubernard base in Charente at around 12.40pm

Both planes were able to land safely, however an investigation has been launched into the accident which left the top tail of one of the aircraft damaged

Colonel Nicolas Lyautey, commander of the airbase, said: ‘One of the [aircraft] lost a piece of its fin, which damaged the roof of a house when it fell’

‘It was a piece measuring around 1m40. I saw it from a distance, and there were lots of law enforcement officers around it. A neighbour sent me a photo.

‘Just as well that the occupant of the house wasn’t at home when it happened,’ The Connexion reported.

According to France 3, the Air Force press office said that ‘such an accident is extremely rare’ and the last time a similar incident occurred was in April 2010.