Canadian Air Force Jets Collide Over W. Germany; 1 Killed

Two Canadian air force jets on a training mission collided in midair over a West German city Tuesday, killing one pilot and showering the area with flaming debris, officials said.

Police and defense officials said the two Hornet F-18 fighter jets were flying at an altitude of about 1,000 feet when they collided about 4 p.m. over the central city of Karlsruhe.

Canadian military sources said the planes, called CF-18s in Canada and slightly modified for the country’s air force, had been flying at 10,000 feet, not 1,000 feet.

One pilot was killed. The other, who parachuted onto a highway, was severely wounded, as was a civilian in Karlsruhe, officials said.

They said the burning wreckage of the one-seater jets set several downtown buildings on fire but that fire brigades managed to put out the flames within an hour of the crash.

The crash is bound to rekindle a debate over the dozens of military training flights crisscrossing West Germany’s skies each day.

The debate picked up steam after a series of deadly crashes in 1988. More recently, West Germans have said they would like to see the training missions sharply curtailed as East-West relations improve.