Heroic story of the week. Times OnlineAN 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). [...]
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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'.”
Monday, March 9, 2009
RAF pilot wins Distinguished Flying Cross
Monday, December 15, 2008
Prison chapel not to have a crucifix in case it offends muslims
More dhimmitude volunteered by naive British officials. After discussions between the prison chaplain and imam it was decided to have a plain cross and portable altar for Chrisitian inmates. A footbath will be installed for muslims to wash their feet before they pray.
Has anyone bothered to ask if the footbaths are offensive to anyone else? TelegraphThe multi-faith room at HMP Lewes will have footbaths installed so Muslim inmates can wash their feet before prayers.
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For Christians, however, there will now only be a plain wooden cross and a portable altar which can be removed if other faiths are using the room.
The new £200,000 development at the East Sussex jail has been designed as a multi-faith room with the space split into two.
One side is dedicated to Christian worship and the other is for other faiths in the 485 inmate category B jail.
But a spokeswoman from the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) revealed the traditional Christian crucifix depicting Jesus nailed to the cross will not be used.
After discussions between the prison chaplain and Muslim imam it was agreed a toned-down wooden cross would be used instead of a crucifix.
