PROUD crew members from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire have spoken out after flying more than 1,000 miles to rush premature twins born on a Scottish island to hospital on the mainland.
Sgt Jason Howard, captain Major Olly Luneau, Graham Prager and engineer Ian Davies, all from the 24 Squadron transported the tiny brother and sister from the Outer Hebrides to Glasgow by Hercules in the early hours of Monday, January 19.
The aircraft was called in after severe weather conditions made the transfer too dangerous for an air ambulance.
Air loadmaster Jason Howard, 23, received the call at home in Swindon.
He said: "I was very surprised to get the call. It was my first day back from holiday and I was about to go to bed.
"When we arrived the twins were being stabilised and we waited on the ground for three hours."When they were ready we flew them to Glasgow."I have never flown with incubators on board before. It was quite a scary experience for me."The Hercules was scrambled from Lyneham shortly before 1am, carrying a crew of four, plus two RAF medics.
Sgt Howard said: "This type of call is not what we expect but it is part of the job. It is out of the ordinary but very important to the community.
"It shows the lengths we will go to for the people of the UK."
The crew landed at Stornoway on Lewis, 690 miles from Lyneham, around an hour and a half later.
The plane set off for Glasgow at 5.40am with the twins in incubators, accompanied by medical staff. The flight took around 40 minutes.
Wing commander Andy Bacon said: "Getting to Glasgow was our priority, but smooth flying and landing were key.
"This operation was well coordinated between military and civilian authorities."
Maj Luneau, a pilot with Armee de l’Air, the French air force, who is serving with the Royal Air Force on an exchange programme, said he had never experienced a mission quite like it.
The team flew through treacherous conditions to rescue the babies, who were born 12 weeks early.
The 35-year-old pilot, who has flown since 1994 and is based with 24 squadron, received the call-out at 11pm on Sunday.
"We have never done anything like this before – to fly two babies in their incubator," he said.
"We were called at 11pm, but didn’t take off from Lyneham until 1am. All we knew was it involved two babies, but didn’t know the full situation at that stage.
"We flew to Stornaway and waited for the babies to stabilise.
We were proud to complete this mission, and I’m very happy to hear they are stable.
"We have a great team, and we work very well together. I am proud of the team too. There was a lot of pressure, knowing we were transporting two babies who were not in a great condition.
"All I was thinking about was getting them back safely and as quickly as I could."
Learning that the twins are said to be in a stable condition with a good prognosis, co-pilot Graham Prager, 26, said he will be thinking of the family.
“I am very interested to know how they get on and we all send our best wishes to the family,” he said.
Dr Lesley Jackson, a neonatal consultant, said this was only the second time in five years that a Hercules had been used to transport ill babies.
The parents are expected to stay in accommodation provided by the hospital in Glasgow until the babies can be discharged.
A spokesman for the Western Isles Health Board said the mother, who had been around 27 weeks pregnant, was in "good health" following a normal delivery.