Queen's Birthday Honours: Retired Stubbington search and rescue aircrewman 'over the moon' to receive MBE

Nick Horst, 65, from Stubbington served for Her Majesty’s Coastguard, working with the search and rescue air crewman unit at Daedalus at Lee-on-the-Solent.

Previously, he carried out the same job in the Royal Navy where he started at the age of 25 in 1982, where he converted to aircrew after working as a seaman radar operator from the age of 16.

In 1988 he became a coastguard search and rescue helicopter crewman with Bristow Helicopters.

Throughout his career, Nick has dedicated 35 years to civilian search and rescue and received this award to honour his dedication to saving those in many intense operations who find themselves in dangerous situations where he was on call to respond to emergencies at all times of the day and at night.

Speaking on the achievement, Nick said: ‘[I feel] fantastic. I'm over the moon. It's wonderful to be recognised and it's quite humbling really.

‘The job is a fantastic job, you help people out and very occasionally you save lives and that's great.

‘That's a perfect job to do and that's what kept me in the role really.

‘I've seen other colleagues given similar honours and I never thought it would happen to me.

‘I'm very grateful for my son, daughter and wife for putting me in for the honour and for the coastguard to endorse it.’

Following the death of a Coastguard winchman, Billy Deacon, – who was killed in the line of duty in 1997 – Nick set up the Billy Deacon Memorial Trophy in his memory which honours search and rescue excellence.

Nick has since been the secretary of the awards, which is for exemplary service to helicopter crewman, and it has been going strong for the last 20 years.

Speaking on his career highlight, Nick recalled: ‘I broke my leg on an operation on a search and rescue operation job so that was a standout moment.

‘We were rescuing two people from a sinking Catamaran and it was rough and the people fell on me breaking my leg but we carried on and we got them back into the helicopter.

‘It was great to carry out the mission and get it done but it was a little bit difficult when you'd broken your leg. I was the winch man at that time.’

Nick has led his crew in support of local charities and community projects.

Over the years the helicopter flight at Daedulus supported disabled people going on the sail training ship Lord Nelson.

Nick has also swam across the Solent in support of the NSPCC – National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – organised through his helicopter unit

in which three or four members took part.

Mr Horst also recruited a board of stakeholders from each of the armed services, HM Coastguard and the RNLI to administer the awards process for the Billy Deacon Search and Rescue Memorial Trophy.

Nick added: ‘It's been wonderful working with those colleagues as well as working alongside the RNLI, the lifeboat service, and the coastguard rescue teams integrating all of those to carry out the job and carry out the rescues.’