AFCs
A HERO Special Forces pilot killed in a Hercules explosion in Iraq has won a posthumous top medal. Flight Lieutenant David Stead, 35, is today awarded the Air Force Cross for saving the lives of six desperately ill civilians and children in a dramatic mercy airlift.
Flt Lt Stead ferried the victims of the war in Afghanistan through a torrential storm to hospital despite being denied permission to land when he arrived to collect them from Kandahar airport. Knowing how badly the casualties were hurt, he ignored the order and touched his C130 transport plane down in a dust storm. The married dad of two - known as "Steady" - then flew low through mountain passes and delivered the injured to Kabul for surgery. His navigator, Flt Lt Richard Whipp, is also awarded the AFC.
Their mission was carried out in April 2002 during clashes in southern Afghanistan between US troops and al-Qaeda. But on January 30 this year Flt Lt Stead died when his plane was blown up over Iraq.