DEVON Air Ambulance's newest helicopter dropped into Okehampton last Friday — thankfully for a flying visit rather than a rescue.

The £4.5 million Eurocopter EC135 is the newest addition to the Devon Air Ambulance fleet, and is owned by the charity, replacing a leased helicopter currently on service.

The air ambulance will be based at Eaglescott Airfield near Umberleigh, and starts operational service on September 1.

The purchase follows the BBC Radio Devon Air Ambulance appeal, which raised £852,000 for the purchase of the helicopter, smashing their target of £600,000.

The rest was raised from public donations.

Dozens of people turned out to the OCRA sports pavilion last Friday to watch the helicopter land, and children and families got to have a closer look at the aircraft. The visit was part of a whistle-stop tour around Devon last week, visiting Braunton, Lynton, South Molton, Tavistock and Holsworthy.

Nigel Hare, operations director at Devon Air Ambulance Trust, said: 'The advantage of us owning this machine is that it will save us around £12,000 a month on leasing costs and such.

'This money will be used to reinvest in the charity and our operations.

'This machine has been specially configured with the latest equipment to help us do the job as well as we possibly can.

'It also has been specially configured so we can fly it at night, which is something we now want to try to do with this machine.

'Purely by coincidence, the £4.5million figure raised to buy this helicopter is the same amount as our annual running costs, so we obviously need to raise a lot to run.

'We survive thanks to normal people supporting us, and it is the lifeblood of what we do.'

Devon Air Ambulance Trust expressed thanks to Okehampton Round Table for stewarding the visit, and OCRA for opening the sports hub to visitors for the landing.