PRINCE William could be flying out from a Suffolk military base with the RAF to help people in distress, it has been revealed today.

PRINCE William could be flying out from a Suffolk military base with the RAF to help people in distress, it has been revealed today.

The Prince is to train to become a full-time pilot with the Royal Air Force's Search and Rescue Force (Sarf), Clarence House has announced.

He will begin his 18-month training course in January next year and, if he successfully completes the course, the second in line to the throne will become a fully operational search and rescue pilot in 2010 with one of the six UK-based Sarf flights.

One of the units is based at Wattisham Airfield, near Needham Market, where personnel said they would treat him as any other member of the crew.

Flt Lt Jean-Marc David, a search and rescue pilot at the Suffolk military base, said: “We have heard that he could come to any one of the six units around the country and that includes Wattisham.

“He would have to get through his training first and we would treat him as another member of the crew, another line pilot, which I am sure is the way he would want it. It would be fantastic to get to meet him though.”

Sarf is ready to respond 24 hours a day and covers the whole of the UK and beyond. Its primary role is to recover RAF personnel, but in peacetime, the majority of callouts are to civilian incidents.