HUNDREDS of service personnel joined the family of a pilot killed when his military helicopter crashed, to pay their respects at his funeral yesterday.

More than 300 people, including 150 RAF servicemen and women, packed into St Mary's Church, in Norton, Teesside, to say farewell to Flight Lieutenant David Sale, 28, who died in the accident, near Catterick, North Yorkshire, on August 8.

The crash also claimed the lives of two others.

Flt Lt Sale was given a full military funeral at the church on the green in the village where he grew up.

Traffic stopped in the main street as the hearse and four cars carrying family and friends passed and entered the grounds of the church.

Residents and shoppers also stopped in the street to pay their respects. Service colleagues lined the entrance to the church and saluted as the hearse passed.

The Union Flag on the church flew at half mast and the bells rang as Flt Lt Sale's coffin, draped in a Union Flag, was lifted out of the hearse.

Flt Lt Sale died, along with crewman Sergeant Phillip Burford, when the helicopter crashed while on a training exercise.

Private Sean Tait, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, one of nine soldiers on board the aircraft, died later from his injuries.

The aim of the exercise was to familiarise junior soldiers with helicopter operations.

On the day before he died, Flt Lt Sale was behind the controls of a helicopter which briefly touched down on a sports field at Norton, while on a training flight with two pupil pilots.

He was due to be deployed to Iraq in the autumn.

On Tuesday, Wing Commander Duncan Trapp, said: "He had recently qualified as combat-ready, thus proving himself capable of operating to the highest standards, both in the air and on the ground. The squadron's ongoing commitment to Iraq would have seen him deploy there in the autumn."

Last week, his mother, Valerie, said: "I would like to think he did his level best to save the others and he lost his life to save others.

"We are immensely proud of him."

Flt Lt Sale went to the private Red House School, Norton Green, before going to Yarm School and to Durham University.

An RAF Board of Inquiry into the crash has been suspended and taken over by North Yorkshire Police.