RAF pilot wins Distinguished Flying Cross

Heroic story of the week. Times Online

AN RAF pilot who saved the life of the Afghan governor of Helmand province by refusing to put his Chinook helicopter down even after a Taliban rocket took out part of its rotor blade has won the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). [...]

The 32-year-old pilot, from 27 Squadron, was taking governor Gulab Mangal back from the northern Afghan town of Musa Qala to the provinicial capital of Lashkar Gar in May last year.

They were flying extremely low along a dried-up riverbed to avoid detection, when they were hit by a hail of Taliban heavy machine-gun rounds and rocket fire.

“We were flying at 140 knots (160mph) at 20ft,” said Duncan this weekend. Allied intelligence had warned that the Taliban knew Mangal would be on board the helicopter "and they were going to try and take us out”.

When the flight crew spotted a suspicious vehicle on the ground, Duncan manoeuvred to give the Chinook’s machine-gunner a chance to fire at it.

Suddenly, the Chinook jolted to the right and upwards. “I had done nothing to the controls and wondered what had happened," said Duncan. "Then one of the crew shouted: 'We're hit'.

"For a second I thought 'Oh s***, we’re going in'. Then I tried the controls and they responded. I said 'Right, we're getting out of here'.”

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