Tributes have been paid to a Red Arrows pilot who crashed to his death after performing with his stunt team.
Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging's Hawk T1 aircraft plunged to the ground near Bournemouth Airport in Dorset after completing a display over the town's seafront.
His wife, Dr Emma Egging, said she was the proudest I've ever been after watching his performance in the skies above the seaside resort.
Colleagues described the 33-year-old as a true team player and gifted aviator.
Flt Lt Egging is said to have guided the plane away from houses and people before it smashed into a field and came to a standstill with its nose in the River Stour near the village of Throop on Saturday.
Dr Egging said: Jon was everything to those that knew him, and he was the best friend and husband I could ever have wished for. I know that he would have wanted me to say something from the heart at this time.
There was nothing bad about Jon. He loved his job and was an exemplary pilot. Watching him today, I was the proudest I've ever been. I loved everything about him, and he will be missed.
Dorset Police said the pilot had been thrown from the aircraft and was pronounced dead at the scene.
An MoD spokesman said: A full service inquiry into the details of the crash has been initiated. It would be inappropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident at this time.
Nicholas Gore, 22, was walking with a friend close to the river when he saw all nine Red Arrows overhead following the display at the Bournemouth Air Festival.
There were quite a few people watching and we saw them go over but one seemed quite low, he said. They then disappeared behind trees and I heard a crack - not an explosion - just a crack and we got further down and I saw the plane with its red tail in the air and its nose in the river. Shortly afterwards there were emergency services everywhere.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plane in the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows aerobatic team crashed on Saturday, killing the pilot, after a performance at an air festival on the southern coast of England, authorities said.
The plane of Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, 33, crashed near an airport some 100 miles from London after performing at the Bournemouth Air Festival, local officials and the Ministry of Defence said in separate statements.
Egging, known as Eggman according to Captain Simon Blake, Commandant of the RAF's Central Flying School, joined the team last year. Before joining the Red Arrows, Egging flew operational missions to support coalition ground forces in Afghanistan.
It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging whilst performing with the Red Arrows today, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said in a statement posted on the MOD's website.
Joining the Red Arrows was his lifetime ambition and he performed with great skill whilst on the team.
Egging became interested in flying at an early age, the MOD said, inspired by his pilot father who allowed him in the cockpit for take offs and landings.
Though other RAF pilots expressed their wishes to continue with flying displays at the festival Sunday, head of Bournemouth tourism Mark Smith said in the statement posted on the Air Festival's site that the Red Arrows would not be performing.
Egging is survived by his wife, Emma.
Jon was everything to those that knew him, and he was the best friend and husband I could ever have wished for, she said in the MOD statement.
He loved his job and was an exemplary pilot. Watching him today, I was the proudest I've ever been.
