COUNTLESS hours of training paid off for Corporal Chris 'Wiggy' Wigfield when he qualified for the Champion Royal Air Force Police Dog and Handler contest.

'Wiggy', from Bromborough, did not win the competition but was pleased that he and dog Jess had made it so far.

Cpl Wigfield joined the RAF in 1991 and is stationed at RAF Cottesmore, Rutland, where he and Jess are engaged in airfield security.

In 1995 he was awarded a Commendation for his quick-thinking at RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton. While on night patrol he came across a hydraulic platform used by painters. It was outside a hangar containing two Harrier and six Jaguar aircraft.

The platform's battery had melted, setting fire to its fuel tank, which was leaking towards the hangar. He summoned the station Fire Brigade and fought the blaze while he was waiting.

Said Cpl Wigfield: "I simply did what anyone else would have done in the circumstances."

His framed Commendation has pride of place on the mantelpiece at the home of parents Derek and Val in Bromborough.

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