A FLIGHT lieutenant with the Royal Air Force is volunteering with the ambulance service to help in the fight against coronavirus.

Harry Dowden, from Witney, is volunteering with the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) as part of Operation Rescript, which sees full-time military personnel volunteer with SCAS in their spare time.

Mr Dowden is a member of the 99 Squadron, based at RAF Brize Norton, and works as an operations officer.

He been a responder for nearly five years and has been trained to drive the rapid response vehicles – which qualifies him to drive ambulances.

His role at the ambulance service is to aid paramedics and technicians by first driving them to the scenes of incidents.

Once on the scene, he can assist by making observations and help gain information to ensure paramedics provide the right care for patients.

He said: “The experience of working alongside ambulance service staff, paramedics, technicians and emergency care assistants has been inspiring.

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“I see first-hand what challenges they have to face on a daily basis, especially during this global pandemic and the professionalism they display no matter what they are faced with.”

Mr Dowden is the latest in a series of colleagues to volunteer from RAF Brize Norton.