Operational Honours and Awards
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Somerset
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Big congrats from the home of the Merlin
and I am sure everyone at Westlands is extremely proud to supply the kit for these sort of people who are willing to serve.
fly safe boys and girls.
DM
fly safe boys and girls.
DM
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Lincs
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Congrats , But What About The Girls Of The Air Transport Auxiliary They Were Pilots When Pontious Was A Pilot.
Cliff.
Cliff.
Like everyone else I am full of pride and admiration for the quiet courage of these two especially. Whatever the political argy that goes on back home they and their colleagues demonstrate in the finest way possible that the highest standards of conduct still pertain in the Royal Air Force and leave an old BOF feeling choked. Respect to them both and all who stand between us and danger! 
Join Date: Apr 2004
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I spent quite a long time yesterday looking at the operational honours on the MoD website, and I don't mind admitting that I was close to tears a lot of the time. In almost equal measure I feel pride, awe and admiration, as well as a fair dash of anger that so many people don't know and don't care what is going on right now.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Sale, Australia
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Coverage from AVweb today. Three tours? Time for a break?
Michelle Goodman's Historic Distinguished Flying Cross
For the first time, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) has been awarded to a woman, Flight Lieutenant and helicopter pilot Michelle Goodman, 31, of the Royal Air Force. Flight Lieutenant Goodman earned the medal by last June flying her Merlin helicopter through heavy fire and mortar rounds into the center of Basra, Iraq, at night to rescue a seriously injured soldier. She flew at 160 mph at very low level across a hostile city using night vision goggles; her aircraft was hit with enemy fire and she executed an approach and landing at an unfamiliar landing site that was taking mortar fire and shrouded in swirling dust. Goodman kept the aircraft on the ground for a full five minutes as her crew retrieved the injured rifleman. She then flew her aircraft, which detected a missile threat and automatically launched countermeasure flares, through a path covered very closely with friendly artillery fire to distract enemy forces. Flight Lieutenant Goodman could have elected not to take on the mission at all, determining that it required too much risk, "But if it was me lying down there," she told The Daily Mail, "I'd like to think there was someone prepared to come and get me."
The aircraft touched down at a British Field Hospital 14 minutes after launch. Before the flight, Goodman had asked her crew if they were up to the task and they agreed. Without Goodman's leadership, and her Incident Reaction Team, the wounded man would have died within 15 minutes. Goodman has completed three tours in Iraq. The DFC is one of the highest military decorations offered, below only the Victoria Cross and Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
Michelle Goodman's Historic Distinguished Flying Cross
For the first time, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) has been awarded to a woman, Flight Lieutenant and helicopter pilot Michelle Goodman, 31, of the Royal Air Force. Flight Lieutenant Goodman earned the medal by last June flying her Merlin helicopter through heavy fire and mortar rounds into the center of Basra, Iraq, at night to rescue a seriously injured soldier. She flew at 160 mph at very low level across a hostile city using night vision goggles; her aircraft was hit with enemy fire and she executed an approach and landing at an unfamiliar landing site that was taking mortar fire and shrouded in swirling dust. Goodman kept the aircraft on the ground for a full five minutes as her crew retrieved the injured rifleman. She then flew her aircraft, which detected a missile threat and automatically launched countermeasure flares, through a path covered very closely with friendly artillery fire to distract enemy forces. Flight Lieutenant Goodman could have elected not to take on the mission at all, determining that it required too much risk, "But if it was me lying down there," she told The Daily Mail, "I'd like to think there was someone prepared to come and get me."
The aircraft touched down at a British Field Hospital 14 minutes after launch. Before the flight, Goodman had asked her crew if they were up to the task and they agreed. Without Goodman's leadership, and her Incident Reaction Team, the wounded man would have died within 15 minutes. Goodman has completed three tours in Iraq. The DFC is one of the highest military decorations offered, below only the Victoria Cross and Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
Join Date: Jun 1999
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Michelle Goodman, you're a class act. Stunning citation, stunning airmanship. What politicians do to deserve people like this putting their necks on the line every day I've no idea... because Brown the cardboard cutout and his mates, have no idea.
