Yesterday I had the most truly amazing experience, one I didn’t think I’d ever be lucky enough to have… I got to fly in a second world war plane. The photo above is of my Harvard T-6. That actual plane was built in Canada in 1943 and used to train *actual* fighter pilots in WWII.

The history of the plane, and the lives of those who trained in it and what they went on to experience never left me through the entire flight. Young men who were just over half my age going up into the sky to possibly not come back, so amazing.

Now, not to be overly dramatic… but most of the entire event was a near death experience for me as well and I *surely* deserve a medal? My pilot Dieter was damned cool. Bloody good looking as well which is of course sickening. Once he got me into the passenger seat…

… it was a 5 minute explaination of the 4 things I had to do in the event of the “most likely” problem – engine failure. Surprisingly none of these four things was to poo myself. In fact, if we did experience an engine failure I think all 4 of my actions would have involved poo. Then it was engines started and we were off.

Holy crap I nearly cried, it was so stunning. I have never flown in a small plane before and it was like we were pinned to the sky. Everything was so smooth – which is a miracle for a 65yr old plane. I’m 38 and my ass is the only smooth part of me! Once we reached our altitude at which we could safely “glide down” (plummet to ground with lots of poo involved) into a field if the engine failed Dieter flew us over to the coast and gave me the controls!!!!

Aieee!

It was so so easy to fly though and so controllable. The big joystick thing you only had to move about 2inches and the plane just tilted into a turn and stayed there! I was expecting drama and winches! So I had a pootle (a 150mph pootle) over to Portsmouth and we had a laugh about how shitty a city it was, then we turned round and headed along the coast.

Before we took off I was worried about dying, mainly from hurling every single one of my bodily organs out of my mouth. But 15mins into the flight I was feeling awesome! I could see my house, water-skiers in the lakes below, ships coming into harbour, was a beautiful summers evening….

What could go wrong?

Everything? Yep

So, I was feeling good, unbelievable in fact. As I said before it felt we weren’t moving, that we were pinned to the sky. Then Dieter said “so, want to do some acrobatics”?

Stomach : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Brain : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Heart : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Bottom : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Mouth : Yeh!

!?!?!?!?!?!

Who the hell spoke then? Paniccccc, my mouth has been hijacked! So, first of all we did a “simple” move involving tipping the entire plane on its wing tips. Arghghghghggh. Unbelievable, wow, so awesome.

Little messages started arriving from my stomach then… urgent messages. And I started getting hot. And sweating. But anyway, I survived as we did dives and climbs and experienced lots of G’s.

So, woohoo I survived!

Then he said “want to do a roll?”

Stomach : mmmm sausage roll, or maybe an artic roll! oooo or a bacon roll!
Brain : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Heart : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Bottom : nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
Mouth : Yeh!

?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

Who the hell said yeh!?!?!!?!?!?!

So, oh god, panicccccc. He said I needn’t worry about holding on to anything as the G’s would keep me pressed into my seat, then told me to look at the horizon…. then ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGH HELPPPP PLEASE LET ME JUST FALL OUT OF PLANE OH GODDDDD. It was only a couple of seconds but oh my goddd.

It was awesome, I’m so glad I didn’t chicken out as it was a once in the lifetime experience. We then headed towards Arundel and tipped our wings (flipped onto our side) over Amberley Castle – wow! Such an incredible experience, then began our flight home….

Now, know when you’re in a car and you need a wee? And it’s manageable right, you think “I’ll make it”. Then all of a sudden you see a sign to your home town and even if it’s still 50 miles away your not-so-intelligent bladder seems to think “wow we’re home, let the wee out!” ? Urrr, well I hope you know what I mean. My point is anyway that as we began our journey back my stomach began a serious trying-to-get-out-of-my-mouth impression. Luckily Dieter suggested I open the hood – wow! Was bloody windy at 150mph but cooled me down so much and I survived all the wayyy to the ground.

Had a good chat with Dieter afterwards, he’s aiming to fly a Spitfire one day and I really hope his wish comes true, he was an excellent pilot and made the experience amazing for me. Thanks!

Took some photos of me in my sexyyyyyy outfit…

… then made my way home… once I got home I pretty much collapsed. It was like a massive adrenalin come down and I just fell onto the sofa and slept for about 2hours. Then my body sort of came round and I began to take in what I’d experienced. Unbelievable!