From the Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Tributes to 'gentleman' with passion for flying
http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/PET//TH1_1522008428rh0214053.jpg
An air accident investigator surveys the scene of the crash near Rutland Water?s Sykes Lane visitors car park.
http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/PET/TH3_1522008428rh0214053.jpg (javascript: ShowThumb(0);)
http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/images/3782952/TH3_ETP-1502-07-1502_082955.jpg (javascript: ShowThumb(1);)
TRIBUTES have been paid to 85-year-old war veteran Harry Barker who died when his plane crashed near Rutland Water (http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Elderly-pilot-killed-in-light.3775667.jp).
Shocked friends and colleagues of Harry described him as a "gentleman" who loved life and had a passion for flying.
The businessman, who owned Eastern Farming Implements (EFI) in Essendine Road, Carlby, near Bourne, was an active member and past president of Bourne Rotary Club.
Vice-president of the rotary club Bob Brown (60) said members were "extremely upset" by the news.
He said: "Harry was very much a gentleman and I think everybody liked him because he was a really nice person. He will be a great loss to the club."
Rotarian Jo Sunner added: "He had a cheeky sense of humour and always made you feel at ease. One of his great loves was flying and he died doing what he enjoyed. Sometimes he would go over to France for a meal and come straight back. He loved life.
"When he got into his eighties one of his sayings was that you have got to keep going.
"It is a huge shock that we have lost Harry and even more so for his other friends and family. He was a lovely, lovely man.
"I was only having lunch with him on Tuesday as he celebrated his 85th birthday. I just can't believe it."
Fellow Bourne Rotary member Gordon Cochran, of Gordon's Photographic, said: "It's a sad loss and he will be greatly missed."
Group secretary for the Bourne branch of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) Sue Green said Mr Barker was a past president of the Agricultural Engineers' Association.
She said: "He was a stalwart in the agricultural industry, he built up a reputable business and was well-liked and respected in the trade and was a gentleman through and through."
Linda Laughton, of Manor Farm Lane, Essendine, joined EFI as an office junior after leaving school in 1974 and stayed there for seven years before leaving in 1981.
She said: "Harry made me feel like one of the family. He was a very kind and generous person.
"Although he was managing director I can remember him putting on his overalls and going out to breakdowns in the fields in busy periods to help the mechanics."
Mr Barker, of Bourne Road, Carlby, is believed to have been part of a syndicate that owned the plane, which was based at Shacklewell Farm in
The light aircraft was in bits after it hit the ground near Rutland Water Butterfly Farm and Aquatic Park at 3.30pm on Wednesday.
He is believed to have taken off from Spanhoe Airfield in Northamptonshire 15 minutes earlier.
Firefighter Sherman Finnemore, crew manager at Uppingham, said: "The plane was spread over a couple of hundred metres.
"It was complete devastation. Some of the debris had passed onto the car park but most of it had gone in the trees."
Senior inspector of air accidents, Insp Tim Atkinson, said the wreckage of the aircraft will be taken back to the branch's headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire for in depth examination.
Tributes to Mr Barker can be posted by
commenting below (http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Tributes-to-39gentleman39-with-passion.3782952.jp#comments), email us:
[email protected] (
[email protected]) or telephone the newsdesk 01733 555111.