AN airman who flew choppers with Prince William has proved his rare form of bone marrow cancer was caused by the RAF Sea King.

Flight Sergeant Zach Stubbings was diagnosed with multiple myeloma after years of inhaling toxic exhaust fumes spewed from the powerful twin-engines of the now retired aircraft.

And last month, the winch operator won a settlement from the Ministry of Defence after a six-year legal battle.

Zach has been paid an undisclosed sum and the MoD had to admit in writing his 15 years of service in the RAF caused his life-threatening condition.

It will likely spark concern for the royals.

Wills flew the Sea King in 150 search-and-rescue operations over a three-year period.

It is not known if he was affected by the fumes.

Prince Andrew also flew the aircraft in the Falklands in 1982.

And The Sun can lift the lid on an apparent government cover-up of the issue.

Bombshell documents uncovered by Zach during his legal fight prove experts warned the MoD of the dangers of the Sea King exhaust as far back as 1999 but nothing was done.

Zach, 42, of Cardiff, said: “The Government chose to ignore it. It’s a scandal.

"They knew the Sea Kings were a danger, that fumes from the exhaust could cause cancer, but they chose to ignore it and do nothing."

His victory could lead to a flood of further claims.

The Sun has already been made aware of one former Sea King pilot who recently won a compensation claim against the MoD in similar circumstances.

Zach served at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales from 2006-2012, and says Wills was flying in the same choppers as him.

The experienced airman, who clocked almost 2,000 hours in the Sea King over a nine-year period, was operating the winch on the helicopter when Wills was training to be a pilot.

Zach even served alongside the royal on several real life rescues.

“William is a genuinely nice guy and makes a good cup of tea,” recalls dad-of-three Zach.

“I flew with him several times in the Operational Conversion Unit, I remember being on his check flight when he left the OCU and I would have flown on his sorties quite a few times as well.

“William did most of his flying in the same pool of helicopters I was in.”

Zach said William even offered him support when he learned about his cancer.

“I just found out about the myeloma and he came and had a good chat with me around the ops desk and was really really sympathetic, he asked me how I was and was really concerned. He was great about it, he is the nicest guy in the world.”

Zach believes William will be taken aback to learn how his old crew mate contracted the disease.

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate according to title and everyone including William should be made aware of it,” he said.

Known as Flight Lt. William Wales, Wills carried out his first rescue in October 2010 during his first full operational shift and was made captain in June, 2012. He flew his last sortie in August, 2013.

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate according to title and everyone including William should be made aware of it."

And while Zach says winch operators took the brunt of the fumes as they leaned out of the side of the turboshaft helicopters, each of the four-man crew were still exposed in some form, he says.

The distinctive choppers, which were retired in 2018, often had a dirty black streak of soot across their side left by the fumes.

“You’d come off shift and your face would be black, your helmet would be dirty with soot, you were coughing up black stuff,” said Zach.

“Over the years we raised concerns but we were told everything is fine, nothing to see, move along. I was young and trusted the RAF.'

Zach was eventually diagnosed with smouldering myeloma in 2012 at the age of 33. 

Shocked doctors told him he was far too young to contract the rare disease which affects the blood and bone marrow. 

He was later diagnosed with the more serious multiple myeloma and medics told Zach that something must have “triggered” the cancer.

Zach left the RAF in 2015 and it was only after several Freedom of Information requests with the MoD that he made the connection between his RAF service and his condition.

In one bombshell health and safety report seen by The Sun the RAF recommended the exhaust should be modified.

The March, 1999 report, compiled by the Royal Air Force Institute of Health’s Occupational Hygiene Department, detailed a survey assessing the “aircrew exposure” to Sea King helicopter exhaust.

The report concluded: “The engineering authority should consider the possibility of diverting the starboard exhaust gases along the outside of the transmission servicing platform to clear the winch arm and the cabin door.”

While the report deemed analysis of contaminant samples inconclusive, it also recommended further ‘monitoring’ of certain chemicals in future.

Another report Zach uncovered was a 2010 document compiled by an Occupational Hygienist in the Naval Institute of Medicine. The report was titled: “An assessment of exposure to Sea King Engine Exhuast Efflux During Operational Flying in Afghanistan.”

Again tests carried out proved inconclusive but this report also recommended extending the starboard engine exhaust so the exhaust fumes missed the cabin.

The report stated that if this modification was unfeasible then crew members should be given rest periods away from exposure, further tests should be carried out and PPE should be utilized.

Again none of this was implemented.

"They knew the Sea Kings were a danger, that fumes from the exhaust could cause cancer, but they chose to ignore it and do nothing."

Zach’s discovery coincided with a 2016 official report into the death of an Australian serviceman which was attributed to exposure to asbestos, petrol or other toxins while working on a naval base.

Petty Officer Greg Lukes, an avionics technician who maintained Sea Kings in New South Wales, died in 2014 from a rare form of cancer.

Zach said: ‘These reports prove conclusively that the MoD knew of the risks, yet they did nothing."

He added: “The RAF asks you to give everything and in return you trust that they are going to do the best by you, well they breached that trust.”

Zach said he felt an overwhelming sense of “relief” when the MoD finally agreed to settle his case out of court last month.

He has been awarded an undisclosed sum and will receive a small war disability pension every month.

In a letter from the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency the MoD clearly concedes Zach’s RAF service caused his cancer.

It states: “We have looked at your claim and confirmed that the following diagnosed conditions have been caused by your service. We call this attributable to service. MULTIPLE MYELOMA.”

The MoD said, however, that the reports were inconclusive.

A spokesperson said: "The health and safety of our personnel is of the utmost importance and we are committed to providing a safe working environment. Three studies undertaken by the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine into Sea King found there were no definitive conclusions in terms of risk to health. RAF Sea King reached the end of service in 2016.”

Zach said of his settlement victory: “I was stunned, it’s been a long fight but I’m happy with the outcome.

“But there’s other people out there that don’t know, people that might be suffering through ill health but don’t know it’s related to their service in RAF.”

Zach underwent several rounds of grueling chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant after he was first diagnosed with cancer.

Thankfully the myeloma is currently inactive.

But doctors have warned him that the cancer could return at any time.

The former airman, who these days works for a private helicopter firm, says his wife Anna-Louise, whom he married last year, his two sons Iestyn, 14, and Owynn, 11, and Anna’s daughter Elizabeth, eight are keeping him strong.

He wed Anna-Louise, 44, after meeting her through her inspirational charity Believe which she set up to campaign and highlight for organ donation in the days following the tragic double loss of her husband and son in December, 2015.

The former solicitor was left widowed after her husband Stuart, 43, and seven-year-old son Fraser were killed when a car ploughed into them as the family walked home from a party together.

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In November, 2018 Zach got chatting to her when he came to collect a Fraser Bear, the charity’s mascot, after having a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment.

A friendship quickly turned to romance and the pair married last year in St Martin’s Church, Cardiff.

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