Medal for 'courageous' Chinook rescue pilot

A RAF pilot has been awarded a medal for his "considerable courage" in the rescue of soldiers in Afghanistan.

Flt Lt Christopher Gordon, from Manchester, has won the Distinguished Flying Cross for helping 30 troops escape heavy fire in Helmand.

His twin-rotored Chinook helicopter had only one engine in operation at the time of the rescue, last August.

The 29-year-old, who is based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, had to quickly assess if he could take off, before having to fly low and use field plough marks to navigate.