THANKS to overwhelming public support, Devon's second wholly owned air ambulance arrived at its base yesterday (Wednesday) and will be making a series of drop-in visits across the county before it goes into service on September 1.

The tour will serve to help aircrew familiarize themselves with the bespoke designed emergency aircraft and to give as many people as possible the chance to see the new helicopter at close quarters and meet the crew.

Two of 14 locations across Devon it will be flying into on Friday, August 9 are The Meadows in Tavistock, between 10.30am and noon, before going on to Simmons Park, Okehampton between noon and 1.30pm. Refreshments will be available and everyone is welcome to come along, see the aircraft and meet the team.

The EC135 helicopter (pictured right), will be based at Eaglescott Airfield, Umberleigh, but, like sister aircraft G-DVAA based in Exeter, it will serve the whole county and be able to reach almost all of the county within 15 minutes.

Heléna Holt, chief executive of Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT), said: 'The month between taking ownership and going into service is needed to ensure that we have plenty of time for all the aircrew to become familiar with the new aircraft and we quickly realised this gave us a great opportunity to show it off to the real people who have made it possible: the people of Devon!

'We are immensely grateful for the unstinting support of the people of Devon and all the communities that have raised money to help us acquire this aircraft and to BBC Radio Devon for the special Air Ambulance appeal that contributed so much towards this project.

'The new helicopter symbolizes our commitment to continuous improvement to our service for which we need to raise over £4.5 million every year.

'Our next task will be to further extend flying hours and I hope the arrival of G-DAAN will inspire everyone to make a donation to DAAT no matter how small so that we can continue helping those most in need.'