A Midland-born skydiver who died in a plane crash in Australia had moved there to fulfil a long-held ambition, a family friend said yesterday.

Colin Peter Hicklin, aged 41, who was born in Walsall, died along with Susanne Elaine Williams, aged 49, from Kent, and three other people when the aircraft they were in plunged into a lake seconds after take-off.

Mr Hicklin, who was working as a skydiving instructor, and Ms Williams were both living in Queensland, where the crash happened.

Yesterday, family friend Alima Bhatti, aged 33, said Mr Hicklin had wanted to be a professional skydiver for a long time and that was why he moved to Australia. He had sent his parents Oliver and Elvira, who still live in Walsall, footage of one of his first skydiving classes and they had showed the tape to friends at Christmas.

Ms Bhatti said she visited the couple on Christmas Eve.

"They showed us a DVD of Colin skydiving, he had a camera attached to his body so you could see what he could see.

"It was thrilling and they were very proud of him. He had wanted to go to Australia to be a professional skydiver, it was something he had wanted to do for a long time.

"It is such a tragedy, his parents must be devastated."

She said Mr Hicklin was in regular contact with his parents.

"He had recently sent them a calendar and marked on it his birthday and circled the date they needed to post a card for it to get to him in time."

His uncle, Edward, said his nephew had worked in computers when in the UK, but had gone to Australia.

He added that Mr Hicklin was not married.

The Ministry of Defence said Ms Williams was the wife of an officer on an exchange programme to Australia. He was not involved in the crash.

The single-engine Cessna 206 came down shortly after take-off on Monday.

Nigel O'Gorman, aged 34, a parachuting instructor originally from Naas, Co Kildare, Ireland, also died in the crash.

His fiancee, Emma McCormack, also from Naas, was waiting for him at a drop zone 500 yards from the accident site.

Anthony Winter, aged 22, the pilot, and Barbara McLel-land, aged 40, also died.

The plane crashed into a dam near Ipswich, about 45 miles east of the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.

It was found submerged about 1,600ft from its take-off point.

There were only two survivors - Brian Scoffell, aged 57, owner of the Brisbane Skydiving Centre that operated the plane, and Mandy Best, aged 27, of Brisbane. Mr Scoffell was in a satisfactory, stable condition in hospital yesterday while Ms Best was in serious but stable condition in intensive care.

Ipswich Police Inspector Noel Powers said witnesses saw a plume of smoke from the back of the plane before it clipped a tree and crashed into the reservoir.

He said it appeared to have difficulty gaining height after it took off from a skydiving centre near Ipswich.

Flags were flown at half-mast in Ipswich as a mark of respect and remembrance. Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale said the community was in shock.

"It's terrible. We are a city in mourning and when it happened yesterday, it just took us all by surprise," Mr Pisasale said.