Injured Eye pilot Maurice Hammond returns home

Injured Eye pilot Maurice Hammond has returned home as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a crash in a vintage plane last month.

Mr Hammond, 58, who has appeared on television series Plane Resurrection, was injured after his Second World War Mustang crashed into a field near the former RAF base at Hardwick on October 2.

This could have been an even worse tragedy and of course, always in the front of our minds is his passenger John Marshall, who unfortunately lost his life, and his family

The passenger, John Marshall, a farmer and military history enthusiast from Willoughby Waterleys, near Countesthorpe in Leicestershire, died in the incident.

He has spent the past month in the care of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Nik Coleman, family friend and acting spokesperson for the Hammond family, told BBC Radio Norfolk: “Given the injuries that he has had, he is well. He is basically confined at the moment to his chair or a bed.

“He has got a selection of rods in his neck that are to support his skull — he hasn’t broken his neck.

“He has recovered from some of the internal injuries but they do still trouble him. He has a damaged left arm still, that is in recovery, and multiple rib breaks, which, anyone who has had broken ribs in the past will know, there is little you can do except for sitting or laying down and waiting for them to repair.

“But he is back home and of course it’s never far from the thoughts of either the family or the team that we do at least have him home.

“This could have been an even worse tragedy and of course, always in the front of our minds is his passenger John Marshall, who unfortunately lost his life, and his family.”

Mr Coleman added Mr Hammond did not have any recollection of the accident.

The investigation into the accident, by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), is ongoing.