Jerry Grayson

He served in the Royal Navy from 1972-1980 as a Search and Rescue helicopter pilot. He was based first on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and later at RNAS (Royal Naval Air Station) Culdrose near Helston in Cornwall. He was involved in rescuing numerous civilians during his time at Culdrose, including yachtsmen who were taking part in the infamous 1979 Fastnet race when many of the yachts were hit by a storm on 13-14 August of that year. He received numerous commendations and decorations over the years, and by the age of 25 he was the most decorated peacetime naval pilot in history. In the 1982 New Year's Honours he was awarded an Air Force Cross (AFC) by the Queen for outstanding gallantry in search and rescue. He has described his experiences in his autobiography "Rescue Pilot: Cheating the Sea". When he left the Navy in 1980 he moved to Liskeard, Cornwall, to join garage owner Roy Flood and Navy colleague and helicopter pilot Keith Thompson in setting up Castle Air, a helicopter charter company that later achieved fame for supplying helicopters G-BHXU (skyrunner, flown by Keith Thompson) and G-SPEY (communications, flown at different times by Jerry Grayson, Michael Malric-Smith, Geoff Newman and Ian Durston) which were used extensively in the TV series Treasure Hunt (1982). In 1989, he and his wife, television researcher and producer Sara Hine, set up their own company Helifilm which specialises in supplying helicopters and pilots for aerial film and TV work. Since 2002 they have lived in Melbourne, Australia and still run Helifilm from there.