Buckley-born Flight Lt Allan James Squires, 39, was among the 14 military personnel who died when an RAF Nimrod crashed in September, 2006.

Yesterday, at an Oxford inquest into their deaths, families of the servicemen heard a recording from the cockpit.

Until now the families had seen only a transcript of the stricken crew's airborne communications.

Oxford Coroner's Court was cleared so they could hear the recording from Nimrod XV 230 in private.

The 37-year-old reconnaissance aircraft exploded in a ball of flames just minutes after undergoing air-to-air refuelling near Kandahar on September 2, 2006.

The inquest into the 14 men's deaths began on Tuesday with a visit by the court, including the families, to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to view a Nimrod aircraft.

An RAF Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the loss of the plane found that ageing components and a lack of modern fire suppressants were among the "contributory factors" which led to the accident. The inquest was adjourned until today.

Flt Lt Squires is survived by his wife Adele, his two children, Abigail, seven, and Graeme, four, his parents Brian and Anne Squires, and sister, Sarah Morton.

The Nimrod and most of the crew had been based at RAF Kinloss, in Scotland.