92-year-old Joy Lofthouse made a triumphant return to the skies after a whole seven decades have passed since the end of World War II. The Air Transport Auxiliary veteran reclaimed a seat in the British Supermarine Spitfire, the most iconic plane in Britain’s military at the time, and was given the opportunity to take control of the craft once again.
Though she was excited, she had also been worried about her age. But, once she lifted off, she didn’t have a care in the world. She said, “It was lovely; It was perfect, of course,” and that it made her feel “quite young.” She also noted how flying was so different when she served, since they didn’t have airborne radio in her day. "That’s something I was not used to. We had no radio and once you took off it was complete silence.”
She had hoped to speak more during the flight, but was afraid to interrupt what she feared would be vital information to her co-pilot.
Watch Lofthouse sail the winds and speak of her experience: