William's Winchman Wins Bravery Award
Well, at least work’s going well.
Prince William has been revealed as the pilot of a helicopter which rescued two sailors from a life raft in the Atlantic, after the aircraft’s winchman, Richard Taylor, demonstrated "outstanding bravery and skill" and was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air.
The MoD said : "The duty crew at RAF Valley was woken in the early hours of a stormy November morning last year at 0200 to attend to a ship in distress, 30 nautical miles south west of their location.
"The vessel had been broken in two by the high seas, sinking exceptionally quickly leaving eight lives in jeopardy. A nearby ship which had responded to the mayday call of the stricken vessel had sighted dinghies in the water, passing their position to the crew on Valley".
According to Sam Kiley of Sky news, the Duke and his crew spotted a life raft but infrared scanners did not reveal any life on board.
To double-check, Taylor was winched out to carry out a physical search of the boat.
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Video of the search shows the winch struggling to cope with the stormy conditions. Taylor was thrown several times into the raging water - and at one stage was trapped under the life raft.
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