THE drugbusters of RFA Wave Ruler’s dedicated helicopter flight have earned the inaugural trophy presented in honour of their fallen comrades.

Lts Dave Cole, Rob Dunn and Jamie Mitchell and LAEM Richard Darnell when HMS Portland’s Lynx crashed into the Channel off Lizard Point during a nighttime search and rescue mission in December 2004.

To keep their memories alive, fellow Lynx fliers have set up the Osprey Trophy which will be presented each year to the Lynx flight whose men and women contribute the most to the ethos, reputation and standing of the helicopter force.

There could be no more worthy winners of that first trophy – a magnificent sculpture of an osprey – than 218 Flight of 815 Naval Air Squadron.

The formation joined tanker Wave Ruler in the Caribbean on anti-drug trafficking swoops – and immediately made its mark.

Thanks to its efforts, 23 suspected drug runners were arrested, three boats were seized, one was blown up, and £1.1bn of cocaine never made it to the streets of North America or Europe.

Perhaps less well known is the flight’s work with police forces in the Caribbean. The 218 team contacted authorities in countries and islands Wave Ruler was due to visit, offering the services of the Fleet Air Arm.

Numerous police forces took 218 up on the offer. Once in the air, the police-218 combination spotted 34 cannabis plantations and almost 68 illegal drug ‘settlements’, all of which were subsequently destroyed.