The Croydon Guardian’s coverage of the inquests at last year’s Biggin Hill air show stretched across the globe when it was read by friends and relatives of the dead pilot in New Zealand.

Two flyers, Sir Ken Hayr and Jonathan Kerr, were killed when a De Havilland Vampire they were in crashed into a field. A third pilot died in a second crash at the same event, last June.

The sister and nephew of Sir Kenneth Hayr were able to read about the air marshal’s inquest after a friend spotted the report on the Croydon Guardian web site.

Keith Stagg, a former New Addington resident – until he migrated to Christchurch in 1999 – works with Sir Kenneth’s nephew and regularly checks the site for the latest news about his home town.

He said: “When we heard about the deaths at Biggin Hill it struck a chord with me as I used to walk up to the air show when I was a kid living in New Addington, but the news had extra meaning.

“One of the team members of where I work in an Air New Zealand hangar had often talked about his Uncle Ken who was a big cheese in the Royal Air Force.

“It turned out that Uncle Ken and RAF Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Hayr were one and the same which I thought illustrated what a small world it really is.”

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