A DARING parachutist from East Lancashire has leapt from the skies 800 times in the past two years for an RAF display team.

Sgt Niel Flanagan is in his second year on the RAF Falcons parachute display team and this weekend will perform at a Lancashire military show.

The avid Clarets fan will entertain the crowds along with his 10 team-mates at the Preston Military Show.

Sgt Flanagan, who was brought up in Fence and went to Walton Primary School, in Nelson, said: “This is the first drop we will have done so close to Burnley so my family and in-laws are coming, and quite a few of my friends want to come along and watch too.

“Our season runs from May to September and between that time we do a show pretty-much every weekend and some midweek shows as well.

“It is brilliant fun, it is a thrilling experience to perform in front of the crowds. We do the biggest shows in the country and some can attract around a million people over the weekend.”

The Falcons team fall at speeds in excess of 120mph from altitudes between 2,500 and 12,000 ft.

Sgt Flanagan joined the RAF as a physical training instructor in 2000 and has completed tours at RAF Benson, RAF Cosford and in the Falkland Islands before beginning his parachute jumping instructor training.

As an instructor he spent three years in the military training flight at RAF Brize Norton teaching airborne forces from across the three services, the Royal Navy, Army and RAF.

He said: “Our role is primarily to promote the RAF, but also to do freefall instructor training.

“You do three years on the Falcons and I am in my second. When it is finished I will train people in military freefall.”

The Preston Military Show attracts around 7,000 people a year and takes place on Saturday (June 18) at Fulwood Barracks from 12.30pm.