“This could be a bit dodgy” were the final words spoken by Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman to her Merlin helicopter crew before they took off to rescue a wounded comrade under heavy fire in one of the most dangerous parts of Basra last year.

It was dark and dusty, and as they flew in low over the rooftops of the city there were flashes and explosions all around them. It was more than dodgy.

Yesterday the 31-year-old pilot was proud but bashful when she was told officially she was the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for an act of supreme bravery.

Flight Lieutenant Goodman, who comes from Bristol and is based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, knew that it was going to be a dangerous mission because the helicopter would be vulnerable to a hail of machinegun fire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

The crew agreed to take the risk to rescue the injured soldier, Rifleman Stephen Vause, 20, who had been under mortar attack. Flight Lieutenant Goodman, wearing night-vision goggles, flew at speeds of 160mph (260km/h) into the centre of Basra.

“It was very dark, there wasn’t much moon. But we were lucky it was dark because although we were finding it difficult to see, we knew they [the armed militia] would find it difficult to see as well,” she said yesterday at the RAF Club in Piccadilly. “It was also very, very dusty so as we got to about 100ft you start losing your reference points.”.

They were attacked as they came in and they were attacked as they flew out. But the wounded comrade had been extracted under fire and he was lying on a stretcher and being attended to by first-aid experts.

“He was in a critical condition at the time. From reports he possibly would have died,” she said.

As explosions landed near the Merlin, Flight Lieutenant Goodman “put her foot down” to raise the helicopter rapidly from the ground and escape the withering mortar fire. The wounded soldier survived.

Group Captain Paul Lyall, her station commander at RAF Benson, said: “Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman showed great gallantry in flying her helicopter into a restricted area of Basra under enemy fire to rescue a wounded soldier and speed him straight to our field hospital.

“She would be the first to say that any of her colleagues would have shown the same skill and courage. But all of us at RAF Benson salute her actions and those of the other three crew members who supported her,” he said.

Flight Lieutenant Goodman said: “I’m very proud to be receiving this award, and especially as the first woman.”

On her decision to take the Merlin into the danger zone, she said: “I suppose you think, if it was you, you would like the crews to try their best.” Corporal David Hayden, 29, of the RAF Regiment, has become the first airman to win the Military Cross after carrying an injured colleague across 200 yards of difficult terrain while under fire in Basra in August last year. Corporal Hayden, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, rescued Leading Aircraftman Martin Beard during the battle of al-Waki market in Basra when under fire from about 50 insurgents.

After hearing that his comrade had been hit he ran into the open to grab him and carry him to safety. He hoisted the wounded soldier on to his shoulder and ran for 200 yards to find shelter. “As we came back we got engaged by a guy in a doorway about 40 yards away . . . I returned fire and he fell over,” Corporal Hayden said.

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