'As soon as you saw him you felt better'

As the Union Jack-draped coffin containing former RAF loadmaster Peter Tyas was being carried into St Mark's Parish Church yesterday afternoon, two RAF Hercules roared low overhead to pay their own special farewell to a well-liked and respected former comrade.

Mr Tyas had planned to wed long term partner Carol Phillips on September 27 exactly 12 years after they got engaged. But on Saturday, August 9, aged just 52, he died of a suspected heart attack after suffering from severe diabetes.

Former instructor Stu Bailey, 70, who first introduced Mr Tyas to the RAF, had helped organise the aerial salute.

He said: "He was a brilliant bloke. As soon as you saw him you felt better. It was a real privilege to know him."

More than 200 people packed the church in Rodbourne for the hour-long service. And Father David McConkey highlighted Mr Tyas's happy-go-lucky character for which he was famed.

He said: "I have heard about his love for laughter. There are many days when you do not feel like laughing.

"But it is the most supreme of God's gifts for it puts your life in perspective."

And Mr Tyas certainly knew about that. After leaving school he went into the RAF to take to the skies, determined to see the world.

He started as an apprentice aircraft photographer and rose through the ranks to become a loadmaster before retiring in 1998 after 28 years of loyal service.

While on detachment in Peru, Mr Tyas met his first wife Mercedes Gomez.

He quickly grasped the Spanish language and was dubbed 'Pedro' by his pals.

His daughter Sharon, 28, told the Evening Advertiser earlier this week of her dad's ability to pull off elaborate practical jokes.

"Some of them required a lot of imagination and effort," she said.

"Once, while on board a Hercules he pretended to be locked out of the plane after take-off and knocked frantically from the cabin to created the impression that he was on the roof."

Mr Tyas, who was director of the successful Hollywood Nites internet caf in Cambria Bridge Road, is also survived by daughter Lorraine, 32, also from his first marriage.

Bob Jones, 54, best remembers his comrade for organising snow to be sent to Malaysia.

"Some Malaysians were over here training when it started snowing. They had never seen it before so Pete got them to box some up and it was flown back home," he said. "That was the type of guy Pete was."

As the procession made its way out into the churchyard to the tune of the Dambusters, Jerry Hynes, 59, who served with Mr Tyas between 1991 and 1994, said they anticipated one final joke from their pal.

"We all expected him to be there driving the funeral hearse," he said.