Sgt Ben Knight, who served with 120 Squadron at RAF Kinloss in Moray Firth, Scotland, was one of the 14 airmen who died when a Nimrod spy plane crashed near Kandahar.
Speaking outside the airbase, Sgt Knight’s father Graham Knight paid tribute to his “beautiful boy’.
He said his son Ben had always wanted to be in the RAF and that he was “now with God”.
“Ben was a beautiful boy and he did what he wanted to do. I hate flying, but that is what he wanted.
“He was flying with the birds.
“Now he is flying with the angels and God is with him now.”
A minute’s silence was observed at the base before a roll-call naming all those killed was read out.
Wreaths were laid by relatives of the victims at the station’s main gate.
Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy told Channel 4 television Monday that all indications pointed to a “technical malfunction” as the principle cause of the crash.
He also confirmed that the pilot of the Nimrod MR2 surveillance plane reported a fire on board shortly before it crashed.
Twelve of the 14 men killed were based at Kinloss, a massive loss for a small community of only a few hundred people.
Rev Duncan Shaw, minister of the Church of Scotland’s Kinloss and Findhorn Parish Church, said earlier that the mood in the community was “one of great sadness” over the loss of the men.
