AN off-duty volunteer policeman yesterday told how he tried to co-ordinate the rescue effort after last weekend’s mid-air collision above Drayton.

Craig Dewar, a Sergeant in the Thames Valley Special Constabulary, was at home when he saw a glider tumbling from the sky seconds after it had collided with an RAF training airplane.

The 47-year-old – one of 16 volunteer police officers based in Abingdon – grabbed his police radio and, being the first officer at the scene, started to feed back information to help the emergency services co-ordinate their response.

The mid-air collision be-tween an RAF training plane and a civilian glider killed 62-year-old Abingdon man Flight Lieutenant Mike Blee and 15-year-old cadet Nich-olas Langley-Rice, of Calcot, Reading.

The pair were in a Grob Tutor training plane, which had taken off from RAF Benson, when the accident happened at 2pm on Sunday, June 14. The glider pilot, from Hampshire, parachuted to safety.

Mr Dewar, who is a purchasing director for an aerospace manufacturing firm, said: “One minute I’m sitting at my dining room table, about to do some work and the next thing I’m standing in the middle of a field helping to co-ordinate an emergency services response to an air accident.

“When I ran down the road, I could see a glider tumbling down and a parachute.

“When I got to the glider, I started talking to our control room. I saw that a small white glider had become upside down.

“The main fuselage was still reasonably intact and bits of wing had been shattered. I checked there was no-one trapped inside and radioed that back in.

“A member of the public said there were two aircraft.

“It wasn’t immediately obvious, but I called the police helicopter back to tell them, as it was heading off to find the parachute, and they were able to confirm there were two aircraft.

“It was a case of being the eyes on the ground and feeding back information about what I could see.

“Your training just kicks in. When you’re the first person there, you need to look at the situation on the ground at that moment.”

Mr Dewar volunteers for Thames Valley Police six hours a week and has been a Special Constable since 2006.

Specials have the same powers as regular officers, including the power of arrest and are issued with the same uniform and equipment.

He added: “Another four specials came out to help, so we like to think we made a contribution.

“I’m no hero, my contribution was really quite small. I’m a member of a team.

“I do it to give something back to the community.”

Ch Insp Andy Boyd, the police commander for the Vale of White Horse, said: “His exemplary actions are a credit to the force.”

l For more details on the role of Special Constables, see thamesvalley.police.uk/join-vpoloff-special