DARING Howard Smith has so far raised more than £5,000 after stripping off and jumping out of a plane in the skies over Wiltshire for Ugandan ambulances.

The 50-year-old electrical engineer fell like a flightless bird over Redlands Airfield at Swindon to raise money for PONT, a partnership and twinning arrangement between the Welsh county of Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Mbale region of Uganda.

“I didn’t know whether the fact I was skydiving would distract me from the fact I was naked, or that being naked would distract me from the fact I was plummeting to the ground from 10,000ft,” said Howard, from Pontypridd, South Wales.

“I can say the skydive took precedence; apart from when the door opened and I felt a bit chilly in some unusual places, I forgot that I was naked.

“It was a bit windier than ideal but otherwise it went really well.

“It was raining the day before and raining the day after, but it was sunny on the day itself, which was good.”

The dad of two raised more than £2,000 for charity doing his first ever tandem skydive over Swansea in August 2014, but this year he wanted to go a step further, and after declining the challenge to go ‘parachute free’ he opted instead for the ‘clothes free’ alternative.

Swindon was the nearest airfield to allow him to do it clad simply in the parachute harness.

So far Howard has raised more than £5,500.

“It started as a joke, but it is for such a good cause, and when I realised that doing this sponsored skydive with the extra challenge of doing it naked would increase the amount raised significantly, I decided to go for it,” he said.

“This extra challenge had better result in me beating last year’s figure by a substantial margin.

“Taking on this challenge was not an easy decision.

“I don’t think I looked my most impressive, but these ambulances are so important I just had to do something to help, and do it in a big way.

“Now I’m just hoping the video will go viral and we’ll raise some more money.”

PONT’s latest project is the creation of an emergency ambulance service in Mbale, using eRanger motorbike ambulances which have a specially designed patient bed as a sidecar, and can access the narrow routes which are the only way to get to many of the villages.

The very existence of an ambulance service in Mbale is a rarity, and to get to hospital in an emergency, patients are lucky if they know someone with a car or bicycle.

So far 32 motorbike ambulances have been bought through donations and grants from various organisations, including a number of Rotary Clubs.

But running the service including fuel, servicing, and drivers’ wages, needs even more funding, up to £10 a day for each ambulance.

To show your support for Howard, sponsor him online through his Virgin Money Giving page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HowardSmith-NakedSkydive. Alternatively, donate £10 by texting NAKD50 10 to 70070.

For more about PONT, visit www.pont-mbale.org.uk.