Two Britons killed during Rotary Club flying tour of Italy after light aircraft plunges into a ravine

Friends and family paid tribute to the pair yesterday, describing them as 'real gentlemen'.

John Ritchie, 81, and Kevin Young, 54, died along with the plane's pilot, Vittorio Rossetti, 69, and his wife Marinella, 56.

Tragic accident: A Tampico single-engine plane similar to this one crashed into a mountain ravine in Italy, killing two Britons

The group were returning to Venice after visiting an aircraft museum in Trento in the north of the country.

Mr Ritchie was a retired solicitor from Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

His son George said: 'My father was a man of the utmost integrity and compassion.

'He did a lot of work for the community and ploughed a lot into helping people who were less fortunate than himself.

'Flying was his passion. He had been piloting small aircraft since the 1960s.'

Mr Young, a dentist from March in Cambridgeshire, leaves a wife and two children.

His friend Bill Kalsi said: 'It's a terrible tragedy. Kevin was a real gentleman. He lived for flying and was at home in the clouds.

'Everyone knows him in March and all our thoughts are with his family.'

Witnesses said they saw smoke coming from the Tampico single-engine plane before it came down at Passo Borcola. Investigators believe the plane suffered engine failure.

The two friends were spending a week on a flying tour of Italy organised by the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.