Just found this from Gp Capt Bell in the
Telegraph dated 31 Aug 2004
SIR - Mark Thatcher's reappearance in the news reminds me of an incident during his now notorious Paris-Dakar rally in 1982.
I was flying from RAF Lyneham to west Africa in a C130 when the flight got the message to divert to Gibraltar. We were to put ourselves on search and rescue standby for the prime minister's son, who was lost somewhere in the Sahara. We spent a couple of days there, but without a call-out, as he turned up unharmed.
Meanwhile, the two pallets of vegetables that we were carrying for Ascension Island slowly went rotten in the back of the aircraft. It must have been quite an expensive exercise to divert an RAF transport aircraft and crew from its primary mission, but I guess that being a member of the PM's family must have some perks as well as its downside.