SOUTHAMPTON, England, March 6 (UPI) -- A 93-year-old former test pilot took to the skies to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Spitfire, the fighter plane that helped win the Battle of Britain.
Alex Henshaw served as the Spitfire's principal test pilot during World War II, The Scotsman reported. On Sunday's 8-minute flight, he handled the controls again, although his co-pilot did the takeoff and landing.
"I doubt the insurance will allow me to land it, but if you can drive a car then you can fly a plane," he said.
The flight was a recreation of the Spitfire's first test on March 5, 1936, from Eastleigh Airfield, now Southampton International Airport. Henshaw was not the pilot for that flight but he and his team made 37,000 test flights.
"For me this is really full circle, as I first flew the Spitfire from Eastleigh on my birthday in November 1939, and this is the last time I will go up in one, so it's very nostalgic," he said. "I am feeling my age and it's not good having ideas in the mind that the body cannot carry out."
