MOST young men are happy to jump in a taxi to get to a stag do. But not Prince William.

The second in line to the throne used a £10 million ($21 million) RAF helicopter to fly to a drunken weekend in the Isle of Wight, it emerged yesterday. He even stopped off in London to pick up his brother Prince Harry on the way.

The RAF has insisted the jaunt was "legitimate training", teaching the prince to fly over water.

But MPs and taxpayers' campaigners demanded to know why the young royals were allowed to use the Chinook aircraft as a "stag-do taxi service".

British troops in Afghanistan are critically short of the helicopters.

Privately, senior commanders are furious over the incident, which threatens to take the gloss off William's four months of RAF pilot training.

William, 25, spent last week with a Chinook squadron before receiving his RAF "wings" from his father in a ceremony on Friday.

Hours later he took the controls of the Chinook heavy-lift transport helicopter for a low-level sortie south to London, where he flew through the busy civilian airspace to land at Woolwich Army barracks to pick up Harry before crossing to the Isle of Wight.

The 80-minute journey saved William seven hours of driving through rush hour traffic and waiting for a ferry, meaning he and Harry arrived by 4pm, ready for the start of the three-day stag party for their cousin Peter Phillips.

According to onlookers two dozen friends toured the island's pubs and clubs drinking heavily, and at one point rowdy revellers pulled down William's trousers.

One eyewitness said the two princes dared girls in one pub to bare their breasts. The Chinook was flown back to its base at Odiham in Hampshire by an RAF crew.

The Ministry of Defence insisted the sortie had always been planned as part of William's training and included important elements of a pilot's skills.

But critics reacted with anger, pointing out that the RAF's 48-strong Chinook fleet is one of the most overstretched parts of the armed forces. Only 10 are available to commanders in Afghanistan.

Clarence House declined to comment but senior royal sources denied that William had done anything wrong.

But another source said: "It isn't the first time I am afraid, and it won't be the last."

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