A WOMAN has honoured her skydiver father’s memory by falling thousands of feet with two members of the RAF Falcons at Brize Norton.

Annie Hillary from Upper Rissington, whose father completed 4,000 skydives for the Falcons, took to the sky on Wednesday as part of a specially-organised charity tandem day.

RAF Falcons display parachutistat RAF Brize Norton Sergeant Scott Garrett was in charge of organising the day, with the aim to raise money for SSNAP, the charity which supports the special care baby unit at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, and the Royal Air Forces Association.

Ms Hillary’s father Bob Souter died in August 2014 after a battle with leukaemia and she wanted to do her first skydive to honour his memory.

She jumped attached to Flight Sergeant Mike Maguire while Flight Lieutenant Ollie Smith videoed her using a GoPro camera fitted to his helmet.

The 36-year-old said: “I knew I wanted to do a skydive for Dad, but when I was offered the opportunity to jump with the RAF Falcons, I couldn’t think of a better way to do it.

“It felt amazing, I can really see why Dad loved it so much.

“Mike and Ollie made it such a personal Falcons experience, and I want to thank them for helping me have such a fantastic time, completing the jump in loving memory of my dad. He would have been so proud.”

Bob Souter was an experienced parachutist and was also the official cameraman for the Falcons team in 1972 and 1973. In 1983 he was awarded the Air Force Medal for his services as a test parachutist in military parachuting and flight safety. He was presented with his medal by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

During the tandem day, a total of 17 people were able to complete the charity skydive, including friends and family of the Falcons.

More than £5,000 was raised for the two charities.