Airman honoured for landing 'almost unflyable' helicopter

Flt Lt Jon Singh, 31, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after managing to land his Chinook helicopter safely in Afghanistan despite insurgent gunfire rendering it "almost unflyable".

He followed in the footsteps of his late grandfather, Flying Officer David Bhore, who was given the same award in 1944 for flying reconnaissance missions for the Royal Indian Air Force during World War II.

Flt Lt Singh's helicopter was hit by several rounds of gunfire during a raid on a Taliban bomb factory in Helmand on 24 June last year.