Kudos to the Iron Maiden Singer. A class individual along with the crew.

21/07/06


HEAVY metal star Bruce Dickinson was returning to Britain last night after airlifting 200 Beirut evacuees to safety.

The Iron Maiden singer, also a professional pilot, flew a Boeing 757 to Cyprus, where the Brits had fled to escape the violence.

After touching down at RAF Akrotiri on the Med island, Bruce waited for the fully-boarded plane to be re-fuelled before being given clearance to fly back to Gatwick.

The mercy mission was the idea of the rocker, whose Iron Maiden hits include Run To The Hills and Sanctuary.

Dad-of-three Bruce, 47, is a first officer with London-based charter airline Astraeus.

A colleague said: "He was only too keen to get involved and help. He has a strong interest in the welfare of people caught up in international conflicts and cares about what is going on."

The first Brits to flee war-torn Lebanon, mostly women and children, had landed at Gatwick airport yesterday looking exhausted but relieved.

By yesterday more than 1,000 Brit nationals and dual nationals had been ferried to safety in Cyprus by Royal Navy ships in the biggest war zone evacuation since Dunkirk in the Second World War.