Posted on 07/26/2006 6:08:57 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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.
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Great story.
But when his pants are on, he makes gold records.
Damn, I hated Iron Maiden. But good for him.
Ive never been an iron maiden fan but this is way cool!
Good for him for actually DOING something. Unlike Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt who signed a Mideast treaty the other day. LOL
Aces High!!!
I think the biggest war evacuation was when the Latvian SS unit hel the russians back, so the city could be evacuated to Germany.
When is John Travolta going to bring back some Austrailian evacuee's?
How cool! I never knew Bruce was a pilot. I wasnt a big Maiden fan, but its still way cool..
OH yeah...thread hijacking in progress! : )
"Fly, on your way, like an eagle, Fly as high as the sun. On your way, like an eagle, Fly and touch the sun."
That pic of Penn bailing out his boat is classic. Totally indicative of the boob that is Sean Penn..
Heavy metal's man of steel: rocker Bruce Dickinson is one fine foilsman. (Iron Maiden lead singer is seventh-rated fencer in Great Britain)That ranking placed Dickinson just below the top tier of British fencing, a remarkable achievement inasmuch as he didn't really begin concentrating on the sport until he was 25, after having taken it up when he was a teenager. What's more, because Dickinson is often in a recording studio or out on year-long concert tours, usually far from a reputable salle d'armes, he can't spend nearly as much time training as do those in fencing's upper echelon. But what makes Dickinson's climb through the ranks still more impressive is that he accomplished it after he switched his fencing hand from his right to his left in 1986.
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