A BRAVE and lucky RAF Odiham pilot has been reunited with the helmet that saved his life.

Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune, of 27 Squadron at RAF Odiham, cheated death by inches while flying in Afghanistan after a bullet hit a metal plate on his helmet just above his eyeline.

As reported in The Gazette in March, the 28-year-old pilot managed to continue flying his Chinook back to Camp Bastion after the incident in January, to drop off seriously injured American and Afghan troops who were involved in a fierce firefight with the Taliban near Nad-E-Ali.

Now the pilot has been reunited with the helmet that saved his life, after it underwent structural testing by the Ministry of Defence.

Speaking at RAF Odiham last Thursday, Flt Lt Fortune told The Gazette: “When I got it back, it made me smile – I think I said ‘crikey’.

“I also saw it the day after the incident when I came out of hospital and even then I almost could not stop grinning just because I realised how lucky I had been.”

While the bullet ricocheted off a metal plate, used to attach night-vision goggles, remnants of the projectile and the visor hit the pilot in the face, leaving a deep gash on his cheek. The helmet’s visors were smashed in two, and the bullet also left a deep groove in the metal plate.

Flt Lt Fortune said: “That’s the bit that made me realise that I was a very lucky boy.”

The damaged helmet will now sit in pride of place behind the bar at the 27 Squadron building at RAF Odiham, alongside a piece of rotor blade – damaged in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a Chinook in Afghanistan in May 2008.

The story of Flt Lt Fortune’s brush with death has now appeared in newspapers and TV reports across the world – something the pilot is pleased about.

He said the publicity has raised the profile of the Immediate Response Team, which effectively acts as a flying ambulance in Afghanistan.

Flt Lt Fortune added: “That’s what we were doing at the time and my crew are still very proud of what we achieved.

“We were lucky that none of us were hurt but what happened to us is no different to what happens to all the other crews. They are constantly going into threatening areas and still do the job.”

Flt Lt Fortune will return for another tour of duty in Afghanistan later this year.