The pilot of a light aircraft was plucked to safety after being force to make an emergency landing in a field near Honington.

He walked away uninjured from the accident on Saturday afternoon.

The drama unfolded at about 12.40pm when the propeller-powered light aircraft made an emergency landing in a field close to RAF Honington, near Thetford.

It is understood the aircraft, which is bright red, landed nose first and then flipped over.

The pilot, who was alone in the cockpit at the time, is understood to have been attempting to land on the runway at RAF Honington.

However, for reasons as yet unclear, he made an emergency landing a short distance away.

The emergency services, including the police helicopter, were called to the scene of the crash, which was in a field to the east of the RAF Honington runway and the A1088, between Honington and Fakenham Magna.

But when they arrived, the pilot had already managed to get out and, with the help of members of the public, had righted the plane.

Fire crews from Ixworth and RAF Honington were also sent to the scene. The small aircraft was collected by a recovery lorry and taken to RAF Honington, which is home to the RAF Regiment.

Shocked Terry Taylor, who lives in nearby Sapiston, told how he was out walking his dog when he spotted the aircraft being put onto the back of a low loader recovery vehicle. He said: 'I didn't know what it was at first. I thought at first it was a tractor. Then I realised it was a plane.

'It had landed in a set-aside field which has recently been ploughed up.'

A police spokesman said: 'No one was injured and the single occupant of the aircraft was released by a passer-by.

'When landed the aircraft flipped onto it's roof but that was put right by the passer-by too.'

A spokeswoman for the Air Accident Investigation Branch said: 'We are aware of the incident and we will be investigating it through correspondence with the pilot.'