A pilot was forced to make an emergency landing after a bird got jammed in his plane’s undercarriage.

Tim Boxall described the accident as a one-in-a-million chance.

He spent an hour in the air above Headcorn aerodrome, taking dramatic steps in an attempt to unlodge the landing gear of his 27-year-old Yak52 plane.

Mr Boxall, 46, from Headcorn, said: "I did a high-speed dive from 2,000 feet and pulled up with 5.5G to try to force the undercarriage down, but that didn’t work."

Eventually, Mr Boxall decided to land to the north of the east-west runway, where long grass helped to cushion the fall. Fire engines were scrambled to the scene of the landing.

Watch manager Mike Gay, the firefighter in charge, said: "He did an amazing job. I had to shake his hand."