Dr Ralph Saxe and Dr Brett Ireland are the two men who died in the crash of a Yak 52 aircraft near Feilding on Monday.

The plane crashed at Timona Park, off East Street in residential Feilding, at about 10.45am.

The scene of the crash. Image: Google Earth.

Ralph lived in Palmerston North with his family and Brett previously lived in the Manawatu, but has been living in Queensland, Australia, with his family for a number of years.

Prior to the crash the plane had taken off from the nearby Taonui Aerodrome.
A witness, who lives next to the park, says she saw smoke coming out of the back of the aircraft moments before it crashed.

Tauranga City Airshow co-director Andrew Gormlie says the Soviet era aircraft was not scheduled to be part of this weekend's event at Tauranga Airport.