A CHINOOK crew from RAF Odiham, who were putting a new aircraft through its paces, attracted plenty of attention when they had to make a precautionary landing in a farmer’s field.

The unscheduled stop took place at 2.30pm on Monday near the B3400 between Worting and Newfound.

None of the three crew members, from 18 Squadron, on board the new Mark 3 Chinook were injured.

A team of engineers from the north Hampshire base was called to the scene to get the twin-rotored aircraft back in the air.

But the Chinook could not be repaired by Monday evening and had to stay in the field overnight, guarded by the team of engineers. It was eventually fit to be flown back to RAF Odiham on Tuesday afternoon, landing in the base at around 4pm.

Flight Lieutenant Aaron Stewart, 32, said the crew had found a fault in the flying control system.

He said: “There was a hydraulics failure and a warning light came on in the cockpit. Dave (Flight Sergeant Dave Neale) was able to confirm there was leaking fluid in the back so we put it on the ground as safely and as speedily as we could.”

The third crew member on board was Flight Lieutenant Alex Duncan – a 32-year-old pilot who, as reported in The Gazette, last year received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the Queen for his heroics in Afghanistan.

The crew were putting the new Mark 3 Chinook through its paces after its recent delivery from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.

Eight Mark 3 Chinooks sat mothballed in hangars for years at the Ministry of Defence testing centre due to computer software problems.

Flight Lieutenant Anna Davies, media officer at RAF Odiham, said the incident was an isolated fault: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Mark 2 or Mark 3 – these things happen. It’s one of those things unfortunately.”