A pilot who crash-landed a plane in a farmer's field is being hailed a hero after he avoided a catastrophe.
Eye witnesses told how John Paulson managed to steer the single-engined craft away from a busy dual carriageway and school to come down in a field of stubble near Wrexham.
Firefighters rushed the scene off the A483 at Rossett to find that the John, 56, had walked away from the wreckage of the red, blue and yellow painted plane virtually unscathed.
The drama began at around 10.40am when John encountered problems with the fuel supply on the aircraft, a one-seater "Avions Mudry et CIE" CAP 232 model.
As he passed over the village of Overton, Cheshire, John used his radio to send a Mayday message to the control tower at nearby Hawarden Airport who relayed the alarm to rescue services.
Within minutes, with the plane rapidly losing altitude, John had to find a spot to attempt an emergency landing with the craft.
Working in the fields below was farmer Nigel Darlington who was at the wheel of his tractor ploughing stubble, and working nearby was his colleague Ray Williams.
Speaking at his home Honkley Hall, Nigel, 55, said: "Ray and I were busy ploughing the field in two tractors about 50 yards apart.
"I noticed the plane diving steeply down towards the ground and I could tell there was something wrong.
"Within a matter of seconds it came down and we could see pilot trying to land in between me and Ray.
"Next we heard a massive bang and the plane flipped over. It must have bumped along for about forty yards away on its head before it came to a halt.
"We both ran over to the plane and were amazed to find anyone alive. The pilot was still strapped into his seat and thankfully still conscious, but upside down.
"We tried to get him out but we struggled. We were panicking as we thought the plane might explode.
"I ran back to the tractor and used it to lift the wing of the aircraft, so we could break the glass canopy and dig a hole so we could carefully slide him out.
"It was not only a miraculous escape but the pilot did well to avoid a school and the A483, which is less than half a mile away.
"The school would have been full of children, they only went back yesterday and I dread to think what might have happened if he had come down on the road or hit the school.
"The pilot was dazed and shocked so we drove him back to the farm house and called the emergency services and a doctor.
"He seemed shocked but otherwise his only injury was that he was complaining of a stiff neck.
"He told me that his fuel had just disappeared so he presumed there must have been a leak and he was forced into making an emergency landing.
"He was a very brave man to risk landing in an uneven field surrounded by cables and pylons. It could have been a disaster."
A spokesman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "We received a call to say that a light plane had crash-landed in a field near the A483 at Rossett.
"We took cutting equipment but it was not needed. The pilot had been helped out of the wreckage of the aircraft by a farmer who was working nearby.
"The plane had come to rest upside down. The pilot said he had encountered a problem with the fuel supply."
Mr Paulson was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital and discharged after medicals checks.
At his secluded sandstone cottage in Frodsham, Cheshire, Mr Paulson, was reluctant to speak to speak about his ordeal.
John said: "It was a bad experience. I don't really want to talk about it."
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