Two suspects in a Towson bank robbery almost gave their pursuers the slip yesterday but wound up in jail after officers in a police helicopter spotted them running through Herring Run Park.

The two Baltimore men, ages 21 and 26, were being held last night in Woodlawn by the FBI. Andy Manning, a spokesman for the agency, said the pair would face federal bank robbery charges this morning in U.S. District Court.

Baltimore County Police spokesman E. Jay Miller said the men are suspects in not only yesterday's robbery of Atlantic Federal Savings and Loan in Towson, but also in 15 or 16 other Baltimore area bank robberies.

The robbery and chase began about 11:15 a.m. yesterday, when a man with a handgun entered the Atlantic Federal branch in the 800 block of Dulaney Valley Road in Towson and demanded cash from three tellers.

He ran out of the bank with the money, crossed Dulaney Valley Road and headed toward Towson Town Center, said Sgt. Stephen Doarnberger, another police spokesman.

Officers in an unmarked police cruiser who spotted two men driving away from Towson Town Center in a Toyota Camry followed the car, waiting for a marked cruiser to help them pull the suspects over. But they lost sight of the car on Loch Raven Boulevard near the city line.

Minutes later, officers aboard the county's helicopter spotted the suspects running through Herring Run Park. City and county police arrested them in the 4900 block of Herring Run Drive about 45 minutes after the robbery.