One of the RAF's elite band of women specialists has told how she left her airman husband holding the baby to go off to war.

Just days ago Sgt Suzanne Carpenter, based at RAF Benson, was in Britain enjoying family life with her husband Gavin and their two-year-old son Rhys.

But now she is playing a vital role helping to plan Harrier GR7 bombing raids at their base in Gioia del Colle, Southern Italy, while Gavin, 30, is back at home in Oxfordshire. Both Suzanne, 33, and Gavin, a senior aircraftsman, have been in the forces for 15 years.

She said: "It was very difficult because I did not have time to say goodbye properly to my son or my husband. I cried at the airport like everyone else.

"It is hard because we are a very close family. Luckily I have the best child minder in the world and Gavin is wonderful with Rhys." A specialist in air traffic control, Suzanne is providing a vital link between Italians controlling Nato planes operating from the base and the British team co-ordinating Harrier missions in the operations room.

Story date: Wednesday 14 April

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