A Royal Navy pilot from Dorset has been nominated for an award after he landed his damaged helicopter on a makeshift pile of sandbags.

Lieutenant Richard Sturman from near Gillingham had been sent out to rescue injured British civilians in car crash on a pitch black night in Afghanistan.

His Sea King ripped off a wheel on an embankment at the crash site and the helicopter blades bent and twisted as they smashed into the ground.

The 33-year-old told the Echo phlegmatically the incident: “Sharpened the mind.”

He managed to get back into the air and hovered for an hour above base while the sandbag platform was created.

“We had a lot of vibration because all the blades were at different heights.

“My main concern was whether the gearbox would hold out,” he recalled.

“It was black and with the dust everywhere it was very, very difficult to pick out the sandbags.

“We were flying at around 500ft – any higher and you couldn’t see the ground.”

He managed to put the six-tonne helicopter down safely with seven minutes of fuel left.

“I just felt relieved, especially when I saw the damage,” he said.

The incident happened in the summer but details have just been released after Lt Sturman, now back at 846 Naval Air Squadron’s base in Yeovilton, Somerset, was nominated for an award.

Lt Sturman, originally from the West Midlands, was one of three crew and three fire and rescue people on board.