Tributes have been paid to former Red Arrows squadron leader and owner of Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm, Richard Storer, after he died at the age of 88.

Mr Storer - who was a well-known figure in the region - died peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Wednesday October 19. He had been receiving palliative care at his home at Baylham House.

Richard was the first Red Arrow Squadron Leader for the RAF Display Team and owner of Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm - whose breeding program saw Mr Storer win an award for 25 years of service to rare breeds.

In August, the Red Arrows flew over Mr Storer's home to pay their respects to the former RAF pilot.

Daughter Katrina described her father as "a people's person with a wicked sense of humour" who was "devoted to both his family and the farm."

Mr Storer was the father of Katrina (60), Fiona (64) and Neil (62), grandfather to Tony (41), Sophie (33) and Benjie (27) and great-grandfather to Tracy (five), Nora (three) and Leyla (seven months).

Richard was born in London in 1933 and moved to Suffolk in 1942. He was raised at Baylham Mill as a child during the Second World War and went to Ipswich School, before going on to Durham University to read physics.

He joined the university air squadron - learning to fly and finishing his degree before joining the RAF in 1956.

Mr Storer married Ann Mackay a year later and then trained as a fighter pilot serving on No 66 squadron, flying Hunters based at Acklington in Northumberland.

After two years the squadron was disbanded and Richard was posted to fly Vulcans with No 83 squadron at Scampton and spent four years periodically sitting on a nuclear bomb waiting to go to war.

Following a promotion to squadron leader Richard was sent to Fairford in Gloucestershire to be the first commanding officer and manager of the recently formed RAF Aerobatic Team which, after a few months, was named The Red Arrows.

Two years later he was posted to the RAE at Farnborough to command one of the two experimental flying squadrons based there, flying all kinds of aircraft, including Comet 2E, Hastings Mks 1 & 2, Varsity, Auster AOP9, and HS 748s.

Four years and another promotion later Mr Storer was sent on promotion to Brussels to be the Air Attaché at the British Embassy.

After that he came back to the UK to be OC Operations Wing firstly at Cottesmore in Rutland and then at Wyton in Huntingdonshire, flying Canberra B2, T4 and T17.

Following his stint at Wyton, Richard returned to Farnborough for another four-year stint - before a one-year attachment to the BBC as RAF advisor, liaison officer and “Mr Fixit” on an RAF-based drama series called “Squadron.”

At the end of the Falklands war he left the BBC in order to lead the team building a new airfield at Mount Pleasant on the Falklands and also for the extensive alterations to the airfield and facilities on Ascension Island.

While he was serving at the Ministry of Defence in 1985, Baylham House Farm came on the market and Richard and Ann bought it.

The couple had an interest in rare breed livestock and started to acquire animals, initially to eat all the grass that came with the property.

After increasing their range of stock, in 1995 they opened Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm to the public.

The farm's breeding programme has helped in the preservation of breeds it supports and has grown into a major Suffolk tourist attraction.

Mr Storer received an award from the British Pig Association for 25 years of service to rare breeding earlier this year.