CHINOOK crews from RAF Odiham have returned home after helping to evacuate more than 2,000 people from war-torn Lebanon.

The crews from 27 Squadron flew into RAF Akrotiri, in Cyprus, on Saturday, July 15, just 22 hours after being called into action.

During the week-long evacuation programme - codenamed Operation Highbrow - the Chinooks played a vital role in the operation.

They started by flying an emergency team into Beirut to identify priority cases. Once the operation cranked into gear, they worked with the Royal Navy and flew from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious.

In just seven days, the armed forces carried more than 2,500 British citizens and other entitled persons to safety, with about 200 evacuated by Chinook.

Wing Commander Steve Shell, officer commanding 27 Squadron, said: "It's great to have everybody home now because the job is not finished until everybody is back.

"The guys all did fantastic work while they were out there, particularly the engineers who had gone out to Cyprus ahead of the Chinooks.

"They turned around and serviced the helicopters within two hours of them arriving so they were ready to go again, even after the engineers had gone 39 hours without sleep."

Initially, there had been fears that up to 70,000 people with British connections would require evacuation, but Wg Cdr Shell said it soon became clear the final total would be a great deal smaller.

He said: "With any situation, you have to work out what the worst possible case is and say what sort of figures that could involve so that, if they do happen, you are not left struggling.

"Over the first two to three days, the number of people we were looking at became clear."

The crews were also praised by Wg Cdr Carl Scott, acting base commander at RAF Odiham.

He said: "We keep forces ready to be deployed anywhere they are needed at short notice at all times, but it is always nice to do something like this where you can see the helicopters being used to do something to help people.

"There are places we go in the world where we are more welcome than others and this was one of them."