Fly-past honour as Mersey RAF pilot is laid to rest

Nov 17 2006 By Jessica Shaughnessy Daily Post Staff

MORE than 200 mourners' faces turned to the skies yesterday as the RAF staged an emotional fly-past to honour Merseyside airman Steven Swarbrick.

As the 28-year-old former Formby High School pupil was laid to rest, 12 RAF colleagues fired gunshots into the air to herald the approach of the aircraft.

Flt Lt Swarbrick, a pilot, was among 14 servicemen who died when their RAF Nimrod MR2 plane suffered a technical fault and crashed in Afghanistan on September 2.

Yesterday friends, family and colleagues gathered to pay their respects in a ceremonial tribute at St Michael's and All Angels on the outskirts of Formby.

Draped in a Union flag, Flt Lt Swarbrick's coffin arrived at the church in a horse-drawn carriage, followed by parents Arthur and Pamela, and brothers Karl and Shaun, who were also pallbearers.

During the service, Karl Swarbrick spoke of his "little brother" who was a great friend.

He described the moment Steven discovered his love of flying, when he grabbed his big brother's transformer toy and flew it over his head.

He said: "I could have been writing a best man's speech or saying a few words at his child's christening but sadly that wasn't to be.

"I have been thinking of what to say. I know he would have been humbled by the number of people here today, but he would also have been embarrassed. He would have wondered what all the fuss was about."

Flt Lt Swarbrick's friends stood to read poems to the congregation and pay tribute to an "intelligent" man who was born to fly, was loyal and dependable and lived life to the full. One said their friend was a "hero in the clouds, who had always had his feet on the ground".