Formby RAF man to fly home this Summer to marry the love of his life

A Formby man serving with the RAF overseas is looking forward to flying home this Summer - to marry the girl of his dreams.

Sgt Chris Ashcroft, 33, is currently serving with the Royal Air Force on Baltic Air Policing operations in Estonia.

He is due to return home to marry local girl Rachel Girdler, 26.

Chris Ashcroft, an Aerospace Systems Manager with the RAF, went to Chesterfield High School in Crosby before moving to Formby when he was 16 and then studying at Southport College.

Since he joined the RAF in 2000 he has been deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 and again in 2010 and the Falklands.

His current job is vital to the safety and security of European airspace.

He said: “I monitor the position of aircraft that are flying without flight plans or communicating. It enables our Typhoons to be vectored on to them and identify their intention”.

Speaking from Ämari airbase, with just a few weeks to go, he said: “I finish, go on a stag do in Benidorm the very next day and I will get married.

“It’s very challenging. Logistically it’s OK but it proves how adaptable we have to be.”

Chris is looking forward now to time at home with Rachel and their little boy Charlie, who will be one a week before the wedding.

He said: “I think travelling the world is the best thing about the RAF, as is working as part of ever changing teams. And I love the opportunity for adventure training and doing extreme sports. I’ve ticked most of the boxes: snowboarding, wakeboarding, skydiving and mountain biking.”

Currently Chris serves with 121 Expeditionary Air Wing which has four Typhoon fast jets deployed at the newly refurbished, former soviet airfield of Ämari just outside the old city of Tallinn in Estonia. Every other weekend he has opportunities for mountain biking, indoor climbing or kayaking.

Above Photo:

Sgt Chris Ashcroft outside the Air Command and Control Centre at Ämari, Estonia as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission.

Story and Photo Source: Southport Visiter