AN RAF Harrier jump jet crashed in an Oxfordshire field, narrowly missing a pub, a garage, houses and a car being driven by an off-duty policeman.

The amazing escape happened after the GR9 fighter jet, travelling to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire from RAF Cottesmore in Lincolnshire, crashed and exploded in fields at Upper Weaveley Farm close to Shipton-on-Cherwell.

The pilot safely ejected from the jet and landed in a field uninjured yards from the twisted and burning wreckage.

The off-duty policeman was driving along the A4260 when the drama happened at about 5pm last Thursday.

Eyewitnesses enjoying an early evening drink in the sunshine at the Sturdy's Castle pub, just 150 yards from the crash site, recalled hearing a low-flying jet scream overhead before its engines cut out, crashed and exploded in a fireball.

The single-seater Harrier jet is believed to have crashed, hit a wall and careered over a ditch on to the road.

The driver of the crashed car staggered from his vehicle, shocked and covered in shards of glass, and sought treatment at the pub.

He was comforted by startled delegates attending a sales conference at the pub who left their seminar after hearing the jet in trouble.

But the unnamed pilot was praised for steering the jet away from the pub, neighbouring garage and nearby houses.

Speaking near the scene of the crash, Squadron Leader Karl Mahon, from RAF High Wycombe, said a major incident was avoided because of the pilot's years of training.

He said: "The fact that this hasn't been a major incident is testament to the skills he has learned over many years.

"It will be good for morale at the base that he used his skills to avoid a mass population area.

"It is never good when we lose one of our aircraft, but he has been able to use his skills to avoid the local population.

"That reinforces the necessary training they go through."

Caroline Young, who owns the field in which the jet crashed, said: "I heard a plane screaming and thought 'that's way too low'.

"I ran out of the house, grabbed the phone and tried to call the emergency services because I had heard a big bang.

"The pilot was drifting down as I ran from the house.

"There was a lot of black smoke everywhere and a lot of explosions.

"I could see the parachute, but what I didn't realise was that he was lying on the ground conscious, at which point a helicopter arrived.

"There was virtually nothing left of the plane, but the remains of the ejector seat are in my field."

The vertical take-off Harrier jump jet, which achieved worldwide fame for its combat roles in the Falklands War and Balkans conflict, was set to take part in a static display at last weekend's Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.

A MOD spokesman said it was not performing any aerobatic manoeuvres or practising for the weekend's show when it got into difficulty.

The RAF has launched an investigation.

The crash caused gridlock on minor roads around the crash area as police cordoned off a three-mile exclusion zone.

Scores of fire, police and ambulance crews arrived at the scene and were amazed that no one was seriously hurt by the crash.

Police immediately closed the A4260 and evacuated nearby houses. The road was due to reopen yesterday.

The pilot, who came down in fields behind the house of Debra Mullins at Thresher's Barn, was treated by Oxfordshire ambulance crews, who were first on the scene.

Mike Smyth, from the fire service, said five front-line fire engines were immediately mobilised after a member of the public alerted them to the crash.

He said: "With the assistance of two specialist appliances from Oxford Airport we extinguished the fire using foam.

"The fire and rescue service helped the ambulance service to remove the pilot from the field and assisted Thames Valley Police in setting up a cordon for public safety."

Sales people, in a conference at the Sturdy Castle pub, were counting their blessings that the plane had so narrowly missed them.

Sam Whelan, from Sandhurst, said: "We were all inside when we heard a noise like the Red Arrows were moving across. We ran outside and saw a pilot coming down in a parachute. Then I saw an explosion it was just a huge mushroom of black smoke.

"I rushed down there to see if I could do anything. The plane was in the road burning and there were still explosions as we were running down.

"Then I saw the guy walking away from his car. It was in the ditch by the hedge and all the front of the car was smashed in. He was covered in glass on his back and had cuts down his arms and across his chest he was splattered with blood.

"I brought him back into the conference room and settled him down, gave him a cup of tea and then his wife turned up to meet him. He was very shocked by it all. It was just amazing that everyone has walked away from it. If the plane had hit us, it doesn't bear thinking about. It only crashed a few hundred yards away."

Colleague Graham Billinge, from the New Forest, said: "The noise was something dreadful. We knew something must be wrong it was deafening.

"We rushed out and saw the pilot on the end of a parachute coming down just past the trees at the side of the pub. Then there was a billow of thick black smoke. The plane had caught fire and there were lots of explosions.

"The pilot should be congratulated, because he left it right to the last moment before he bailed out.

"If he had come down before, the plane would have hit us all."

Paul Dunn, who works at the Varsity Chrysler and Jeep dealership at Shipton-on-Cherwell, said it looked as if the plane tried to land at Oxford Airport, before banking right.

Mr Dunn, 46, said: "I was in the office and a plane came over, less than 200ft above our garage.

"It was approaching Kidlington airport and trying to land. And whether the pilot was going too fast to land, or thought the runway was not long enough, he decided to abort the landing.

"He made a bank to the right, then headed north towards Banbury."