Thanks, but no thanks for Barry Dock! Barry Dock lifeboat crew were faced with an unusual situation on 12 September this year, when one of two survivors they had located refused the offer of a lift to safety on the lifeboat! Within 10 minutes of a 'shout' from Swansea coastguard, the crew of the relief Arun Sir Max Aitken were on their way to pick up two survivors from an RAF Tornado that had crashed in the Bristol Channel.

The two pilots had ejected and the crew found them unharmed and awaiting the rescue services in their inflatable dinghies. One of the airmen was winched aboard a rescue helicopter but the other pilot politely declined the lifeboat crew's offer to board, waiting instead to be lifted into the helicopter with his co-pilot.

In a letter of thanks to Barry station branch, one of the pilots, based at Marham, King's Lynn, wrote: 'It was marvellous to see the lifeboat bearing down on us, particularly as the helicopter had not appeared at that stage. Personally, I was very sorry to have turned down the chance of you picking me up...'.