TRIBUTES have been paid to one of Hampshire’s Deputy Lieutenants who has been killed in a light aircraft crash.

Captain John Fairey was at the controls of a plane which went down in Lincolnshire.

The former commercial airline pilot lived in the village of Broughton, near Romsey.

He was chairman of the Friends of the Museum of Army Flying at Middle Wallop and was heavily involved with the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovil in Somerset.

Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Dame Mary Fagan said: “I was very saddened to hear of the tragic death of John Fairey, one of my deputies.

“He will be remembered by many people throughout Hampshire and beyond for his enormous contribution to the community as well as the aviation industry.”

Capt Fairey, 74, was married to Anne Downward and later to Beverley Halford.

He had three sons, Richard, James and Alexander, who have all died. He is survived by his daughter Sarah Jane, grandson Alexander and sister Jane.

A team from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch is looking into the crash close to the River Ancholme at Bishop Norton, near Market Rasen, last Wednesday. No one else was on board.