Devon squadron pilot dies in air crash

Crash in pictures

A Devon-based pilot was one of two men who were killed when an historic aeroplane crashed at an air show.

Lieutenant Commander Bill Murton, 45, Commanding Officer of 727 Naval Air Squadron based at Roborough in Plymouth, died when the Fairey Firefly vintage naval aircraft he was flying came down near the Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire at about 1430 BST on Saturday.

The Firefly was part of a fleet of vintage military aircraft based at the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, Somerset.

The Ministry of Defence has started an investigation into the incident.

He was a wonderful man, a fine naval aviator who lived for flying - all of us are devastated by his death Commodore Bill Covington, RNAS Yeovilton

The aircraft was taking part in the Flying Legends Air Show at Duxford's Imperial War Museum, near Cambridge, when it went into a nosedive from which it never recovered.

Neil Rix, 29, who was also on the aeroplane and died in the crash, was an aircraft fitter with the Royal Naval Historic Flight (RNHF) and was unmarried.

Lieutenant Commander Murton, who was married with three children and lived in Somerset, began flying at the age of 17.

He had served in the Royal Navy for 21 years and was an experienced pilot who had been flying with the Royal Naval Historic Flight for three years.

Commodore Bill Covington, the commanding officer of RNAS Yeovilton, said: "Bill was a most experienced and respected naval pilot with well over 5,000 hours flying time to his credit.

"He was a wonderful man, a fine naval aviator who lived for flying. All of us are devastated by his death. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Air accident investigators this week called for a safety review at Duxford after a fatal jet crash on the nearby M11 motorway in June last year.

On that occasion, a privately-owned former Soviet air force L-39 military jet trainer came to rest on the motorway after going through the boundary fence at Duxford.

Ted Inman, the director of the Duxford site, said Duxford's accident record since it started hosting air displays in 1973 was "very good" and that Civil Aviation Authority guidelines were followed at all times.

He said: "All the manoeuvres are geared above all to safety of the crowds and the tragic events took place a long, long way from the crowd," he added.