A Worthing man will try to prove crocodiles can fly on Saturday in memory of his brother who died of leukaemia.

Andy Headworth, 43, will dress in a giant crocodile suit and jump off the end of Worthing pier to raise money for blood cancer research.

He is taking part in the Worthing International Birdman competition, which has been encouraging human-powered flying machines since 1971.

Andy's brother David died of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in December 2007, after being diagnosed with the disease that April, the week after his 40th birthday.

Andy said: "In less than a year he found out he was having a child, had his birthday, was diagnosed, got married, saw the birth of his son, and died. He died on 11 December, having only spent four months with his newly born son, Dara. I want to raise as much money as I can for Leukaemia Research, so they can hopefully save lives of other unfortunate cancer patients in the future."

The idea of dressing up as a crocodile to become the 'Worthing Crocman' came from a family joke about an inflatable crocodile Andy sent to David when he was on holiday in Australia.

Andy tried to honour his brother's memory at last year's Birdman event, but poor weather thwarted his plans.

He said: "All we could manage last year was to 'go for a dip' due to gale force winds and very high seas. Hopefully this year the conditions will be much better for flying!"

Andy hopes his snappy outfit will raise £1,000 for Leukaemia Research, the charity that helps find better treatments and cures for leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. He is over halfway towards achieving that target, and has set up a Facebook page and Twitter feed to gather support.

To sponsor Andy, visit his fundraising website at: www.justgiving.com/andyheadworth-worthingbirdman. Andy is also plotting his progress on Twitter here.

Worthing's International Birdman awards a prize of £30,000 to whoever flies the furthest into the English Channel. Find out more at www.worthingbirdman.co.uk.

Leukaemia Research is the only national charity devoted exclusively to improving treatments, finding cures and learning how to prevent leukaemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and other lymphomas, myeloma and the related blood disorders, diagnosed in 24,500 people in the UK every year.

Further information, including patient information booklets, is available from www.lrf.org.uk or call 020 7405 0101