Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show Saturday when one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.

The plane was part of the Blue Angels, a non-combat, flight demonstration squadron that flies at air shows around the country. They fly at high speeds in close formations, and their pilots are considered the Navy’s elite.

Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of trees, dousing his truck in flames and debris. He said wreckage hit “plenty of houses and mobile homes.”

“It was just a big fireball coming at me,” said Voegeli, 37.

County Coroner Curt Copeland said the pilot was killed, but did not release a name. Copeland described the scene as horrific. Eight people on the ground suffered injuries that were not life threatening, said Capt. Sarah Kansteiner of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.

An investigation has begun, but Kansteiner said Sunday that she could not say anything about the cause of the crash. Several homes were damaged.

The crash took place in the final minutes of the air show, said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Walley, a Blue Angel pilot. The pilots were doing a maneuver which involved all six planes joining from behind the crowd to form a Delta triangle, said Lt. Cmdr. Garrett D. Kasper, spokesman for the Blue Angels. One plane did not rejoin the formation.

The pilot’s name would not be released until Sunday afternoon, keeping with a policy of waiting 24 hours after the death, Kansteiner said. A Navy statement said the pilot had been on the team for two years — and it was his first year as a demonstration pilot.

Kasper said all possible causes of the crash are under investigation, and it could take at least three weeks for an official cause to be released.

John Sauls, who lives near the crash site, said the planes were banking back and forth before one disappeared, and a plume of smoke shot up.

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