Caerphilly dog handler on duty at air tattoo (From Campaign Series)

Caerphilly dog handler on duty at air tattoo

3:31pm Wednesday 4th July 2012 in News

A DOG handler from Caerphilly will be on duty with his two-year-old cocker spaniel Alvin at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, this weekend.

Sniffer dog Alvin, along with his handler Cpl David Parton, 22, from Caerphilly is on duty as just one element of the RAF Police security team at the world’s biggest military airshow which takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

And it’s obvious that Alvin enjoys his work as he sniffs his way around some of the hundreds of trade vehicles making their way onto the showground in the build-up to the event.

David said: "I joined the RAF Police in September 2010 and spent five months training with patrol dogs before specialising in vehicle searches. Alvin and I were teamed up in April – I was doing my training course at the same time as he was – and we now work together, with Alvin being trained to sniff out explosives, arms, ammunition and weapons parts."

This is the first time David’s visited the Air Tattoo and he’s enjoying it so far.

He added: "Our next tour of duty will be a bit different as Alvin and I will both be off to Afghanistan in September for a six-month tour of duty.

After that I’ll be coming back to Britain, but Alvin will stay out there to work with other handlers, returning after a couple of tours."