RAF fighter pilot Andy Green is a world-beater - shattering the land speed record at 714 mph in his jet-engined Thrust super-car in the Nevada desert.

But he and the car are not the only champs. For workers at two East Lancashire firms can also claim credit for the record-busting run.

Nelson-based PDS (SNC) Engineering and the Brookhouse Patterns and Composites group at Darwen both played a vital part in producing the components that went into Thrust and its success.

Hats off, then, to them also. And when Andy becomes the first man to drive through the sound-barrier, there will a boom in East Lancs, too - for the local skill and teamwork that went into this flag-flying breakthrough.

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