On a day like any other, the air ambulance was less than a mile from its base.

Pilot Graham Budden and paramedics Mark Darby and Tony Richardson perished when their helicopter plunged into Nashenden Valley on the outskirts of Medway.

The crew were returning from a routine mission to their base at Rochester airport when the accident happened.

The helicopter collided with power cables, falling helplessly to the ground and bursting into a ball of flames. The three crew were killed instantly.

In the weeks that followed there was a huge outpouring of grief, not only from the crew’s family, friends and colleagues, but from across Kent.

The funerals of each of the men were attended by hundreds of mourners and bouquets were laid at Rochester airport and the air ambulance headquarters in Staplehurst.

A book of remembrance opened at Rochester Cathedral and mourners queued to pay their respects.

A permanent memorial was unveiled at Blue Bell Hill four months later. The site overlooks the valley Graham, Mark and Tony had flown over during their work and is just a few minutes away from where the crash happened.

The ashes of the three men were buried underneath the stone in the positions they had sat in the aircraft; pilot Graham at the front with Mark on the left and Tony on the right.