FAMILY and friends have paid tribute to an adventurer whose exciting life led him to be called "Blackburn's answer to Indiana Jones".

Tony Wells, who died of cancer aged 65, enjoyed careers as a paratrooper, fireman, ambulance driver and deep-sea diving instructor.

But it was his last 23 years as a microlight pilot and flying instructor that won him a place in the heart of the Blackburn community.

Mr Wells, who lived in Bury Lane, Withnell, for 24 years with his wife Irene and three children, ran Mercury Flying flying school in Garstang and was chairman of the Council of the British Microlight Aircraft Association training committee until ill health forced him to resign in 2000.

His love of microlights led to him being the star of a two-part BBC TV programme about the aircraft in the early 1990s. In the programme Mr Wells was dubbed The Blackburn Bomber - a name which stuck and he was thereafter known as Bomber Wells throughout the microlight fraternity.

His flying skills also made him turn hero when a Belgium trawler sank off Morecambe Bay in the 1980s. Mr Wells flew over the bay with police and helped direct the coastguard to save the crew's lives.

Local residents may also have seen Mr Wells exhibiting his aircraft around Blackburn for charity.

His former colleague and close friend Eddie Duxbury, of Arthur Way, Blackburn, said: "I was just one of the many hundreds of Tony's students and we became great friends.

"Tony was one of life's adventurers who ticked all the boxes on the checklist of life and did more during his lifetime than most of us could even dream of.

"He was Blackburn's answer to Indiana Jones, an ace pilot, raconteur and irreplaceable asset to the microlight community.

"He was many things to many people and will sadly be missed by all."

His 26-year-old daughter Charlotte, who lived next door to her father, said: "My dad was an amazing man. He was a great-grandad and doted on his six grandchildren.

"He never looked back on anything he did.

"If he saved someone's life one day he didn't gloat about it - it was just part of his day. He was fantastic."