Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was an average boy, in an average place, doing average things. Then I fell in with the wrong crowd. I spent a short while as a bad lad, in a bad place, doing bad things. I quickly grew up and after a few failed relationships and 23 years serving in the Army I settled down. I now spend my spare time doing good things, all over the country (world recently) for those less fortunate. My time is spent mainly on children, and more recently, on those left behind after WW2 that have been forgotten by our government.

What books have had a lasting impact on you?
I’m a firm believer of Karma in this life. I believe my actions today will have a profound effect on what happens in the future. Those actions do not only affect me but often others and Mitch Albom’s the five people you meet in heaven is as close to what I believe as I have ever read.

I never thought I would find an aviation book that could encompass every facet of aviation to aspire to. Hugh L Mills Jr wrote about being a Little Bird pilot in Vietnam and in my eyes Low Level Hell is the epitome of what I hoped to achieve in my career. It’s not gung-ho, has no political slant and does not exaggerate though sensationalisation. It changed the way I saw my roll as a pilot and as a commander and became the bible on aviation to me. Honesty, integrity and always do you your best for every soldier no matter who they are, even if the risk is death.

As a boy I had reading difficulties. I did not get on with my English teacher and knowing I struggled to pronounce words she forced me to stand in front of the whole class and read an extract from J.R.R Tolkien’s, The Hobbit. To the raucous laughter of the rest of the class, she mocked my poor attempt. I walked out, never to attend another English lesson again leaving school without any English qualifications. As an adult I spent an inordinate amount of time learning what I had missed at school and thoroughly enjoyed reading the Hobbit to my children at home.

Why do you write?
My family were fed up and bored listening to my war stories and wouldn’t entertain anything that began with, “When I was in…” So I wrote them down.

As an author, what are you most proud (or embarrassed) of writing?
I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve written and given my lack of formal education I couldn’t have been more proud when Apache was published.

What is your biggest failure?
Apache sold enough books in its first week to have been a number one bestseller for an entire month. I chose the week Sir Cliff Richard published his and had to settle for second. Cliff is an institution in our family and failure to be Number One turned out to be hilarious.

When you were a kid, what did you think were you going to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a professional BMX’r but my dad made my bike from broken bikes at the scrappy and it never cut the mustard.

If you could travel anywhere in time, for one day, where would you go and why?
I would travel to my own time party. I would dine and drink with leaders before taking a call outside!

Do you like reading e-books?
I’ve never had the chance yet but I’m hoping Father Christmas is reading this.

What are you working on at the moment?
I have just returned from a jungle expedition in Malaysia where I led a team looking for the bodies of a lost WW2 RAF bomber. Working on behalf of the relatives we found and exhumed the remains of the 8 man crew because the British government refused to. I am now writing up my report in which to have the men DNA tested so the relatives can give them a proper burial after 64 years.

Who are the five people, living or dead, you’d invite to a party?
To my Time Party I would invite Adolf Hitler 89, Robert Mugabe, Saloth Sar (Pol Pot), Osama bin Laden and the guy who stole my HanWag mountain boots from my back garden. I’d sit them down and take my call outside. “Ugly Five One this is Ed Macy. Your target is…”

He’s a Target!
For Lt Wales to continue his operational role as a Blues and Royals Officer in Afghanistan’s current climate is deemed too risky — to him and his comrades. He is too much of an important target. And yet the Taliban’s highest priority target is the British Apache AH Mk 1, so why put him in one and send him back to fight? Because it’s a flying tank and although these British Apaches have received many hits since May 2006, they absorb the fire, turn around and destroy the unlucky fighter that chose to dent it. Despite costing more than £40 million each they always get back to base, patched up, and sent back out to fight. Due to their cost they are flown to and from high security bases within Afghanistan, so the threat to Harry and his new aviation comrades is negligible.

The Apache’s Hellfire Missiles in action

The Threat
Arguably, the biggest threat to the young prince is not the Taliban but the tough selection procedure he’s about to embark upon. Only the very best of the best make it through Army Air Corps Pilot Selection and get the chance to move onto the Army Pilots Course. Even then the failure rate is high before being assessed as to what helicopter they will fly operationally. If he manages to get ahead of the pack he may even realise his dream of becoming an Attack Pilot on the Apache helicopter.

The First Hurdle
He’s due to attempt ‘Grading’ on Pilot Selection in a fixed wing single-propped Slingsby Firefly 160 aircraft. Grading is a process that assesses a potential pilot’s ability to listen, absorb and replicate simple flying manoeuvres. It‘s a baseline test including ground school to see if they have the aptitude and ability to cope with the Army Pilots Course. It’s monkey-see monkey-do. He will be given a perfect flying demonstration of say, ‘a loop’. Then the instructor will fly the same manoeuvre again with HRH holding the controls with him to get a feel of it. Then the test begins, ‘Lt Wales, perform a loop please’. His ability over twelve instructional sorties and one test flight will be graded. If he makes the grade, he will be interviewed before being offered a place on the Army Pilots Course.

The interview will be ‘a given’; after all, who wouldn’t want a Royal in their regiment? On the other hand, the Grading is not. More than 50% of potential candidates fail and every one of them has been screened for their ability beforehand.

Chopper or Chopped?
If he wanted to become a pilot as a figurehead, he’d do an abridged pilot’s course that he couldn’t fail, like his father. Unlike other members of the royal family, Prince Harry wants to return to Operational Duty. If successful, Harry will be in charge of an Apache helicopter capable of wreaking devastating havoc on the enemy. If he gets it wrong he will kill innocent civilians and troops at worst and be non-effective at best.

The Director of Army Aviation will have no problems failing the prince if he fails to meet the current standards in his training at any stage. With great firepower comes great responsibility.

I wish him the very best of luck.

Ed Macy MC

Attack Pilot and author of APACHE

Apache author Ed Macy — who won the Military Cross in Afghanistan — explains what attracts Prince Harry to the Army Air Corps and what it’ll take for him to make it as an Apache Pilot.

The news that Prince Harry wants to join the Army Air Corps to be an operational pilot has been released by Clarence House and newspapers have confirmed that he wants to be an Apache Pilot.

Prince Harry is a real life ‘Action Man’ and has proven himself in combat in Afghanistan. Working as a ‘Joint Terminal Air Controller’ he was responsible for controlling the bombs from fast jets and the awe-inspiring firepower of the Apache helicopters onto Taliban positions. Witnessing first-hand the speed, agility and deftness of the Apache helicopters is an experience beyond expectations. The accuracy, loudness and deadliness of the cannon are frightening when used close to troops in contact. “It was that loud we thought you were engaging us” the Paras exclaimed. Having called the Apaches in for rocket attacks on Taliban hiding in the bushes, trees and irrigation ditches, he knows that few escape the hundreds of deadly Flechettes they spit out. And watching the Taliban take refuge in buildings with walls three feet thick, the Prince knew that they had played their last card and he was holding the ace. The Apaches’ Hellfire Missiles are capable of defeating all known armour and on his very words they unleashed the missiles into the buildings, extinguishing all life. The aftermath of an Apache attack reveals the clinical damage they impart on the enemy and the young Prince, having witnessed this, would struggle not to be impressed.

Bravery, good military knowledge and a love of the machines is not enough to pass the stringent grading and flying course. He needs dedication, calmness and an unprecedented amount of co-ordination. If successful he will be given the choice of the Gazelle, Lynx and Apache but the pressure is on. The self-induced pressure he’s about to experience will test him in ways he can’t have experienced before. If he wants to fly the Apache he’s going to need to show extremely high levels of ability, far beyond the average. Not only will he be doing his utmost to survive the course, he will be competing for the chance to convert to the Apache whether he likes it or not. Only the best are successful.

The Apache is the most technologically advanced attack helicopter in the world and by far the hardest to master. Having seen it, studied it and been given the opportunity to fly it, would Harry really want to become an Attack Pilot in the AAC? Who wouldn’t…?!

Ed Macy MC

Attack Pilot and author of APACHE