Plane crashed and exploded on take-off

A PILOT is believed to have died instantly when his replica WWII aircraft crashed on take-off near Helidon.

Terry Kronk, 52, a father of two, was an aviation and military buff who had built the crashed P-51 Mustang from scratch.

"He was a very generous, warm hearted gentleman who loved life, loved his family and obviously had a passion for flying and our Anzac heritage. He will be greatly missed," family friend Mark Freeman said.

Mr Kronk was the co-founder of the annual Emu Gully Land Air Spectacular, Australia's largest recreation of Anzac history.

His wife and daughters, aged 18 and 16, had been informed of the crash.

Police said they would prepare a report on the death to the coroner.

Witnesses told of seeing the plane plunge into trees and explode after apparent engine failure on take-off near Helidon.

"My husband was riding his horse on the arena. He saw it take off,'' a nearby resident told The Courier-Mail.

"It was going off to the right a little bit then the motor just cut out and it started spluttering.

"It sounded like the motor blew up then it just went down into the trees and there was a big explosion.

"We rang triple zero straight away but it was a big explosion so I don't think whoever was flying it would have had any chance.''

The plane was a P51 Mustang replica and had crashed near the Emu Gully airstrip near Helidon, only about 20m to 30m from Whylaway Boarding Kennels.

A man aged in his 30s suffered minor burns to his legs and smoke inhalation trying to assist the pilot.

The crash sparked a large grass fire which was brought under control by 11am.

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