It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in July and people across Medway were making the most of the hot weather in their gardens.

Then, at around 5.30pm, tragedy struck from the skies above as the Kent Air Ambulance crashed into woodland near Blue Bell Hill.

Pilot Graham Budden and paramedics Mark Darby and Tony Richardson, who dedicated their lives to saving others, died instantly.

Their legacy lives on as Kent remembers the three crew members who cruelly met their fate in isolated woodland near Burham.

The men were on their way back to Rochester Airport from an aborted call to a road accident on the A2 at Cuxton when the helicopter lost height and hit power cables.

The helicopter was not meant to have been on call-out duty and had been deployed to promote the work of the service across the county.

Witnesses reported seeing it plummet and explode into a ball of flames as it crashed into the ground. Seconds before, motorists on the M2 watched in horror as the aircraft took a sharp turn, then drop from view into Nashenden Valley.

Customers at the nearby Robin Hood pub noticed how the lights flashed, which would have been the moment the former police helicopter hit a 11,000 volt cable.

Meanwhile, the county was plunged into overwhelming grief as everyone searched for reasons why the devastating catastrophe happened just a minute away from their base.

The trio who perished were paramedics Mark Darby, 37, of Borstal Road, Rochester; Tony Richardson, 43, from Maidstone; and pilot Graham Budden, 40, from Lingfield, Surrey.

Kate Chivers,who set up the Kent Air Ambulance Trust in 1989, paid tribute to Graham, Mark and Tony on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.

Mrs Chivers said: “I have always believed the crews are very special. They do a very difficult job in difficult circumstances.

She described their deaths as “Kent’s loss” and the service had been left “totally devastated”.

Mrs Chivers added: “After the crash the crews were determined to fly again.

“It would have been a great disservice to the men who died if the service did not run again.

“There was immense support for the air ambulance following the crash.

“The public were stricken with disbelief and sadness. There was a huge outpouring of grief. Everyone shared in the horror of the tragedy.

“I had worked hard to establish the air ambulance and it has become our air ambulance. People in Kent felt it was theirs, and in particular the people of Rochester.

“For a long time it was always in the back of people’s minds. We will never forget because those men will always be in our memories.”