Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & Vic) Pooraka Retirement Living resident Brian Clements has always enjoyed being in the air.
He started flying from an early age while living in England, joining the Air Training Corp at age 14 and as part of the program was given the opportunity to fly in a Chipmunk once a year, either taking the controls himself or sitting back for some exhilarating aerobatics.
At the age of 16 Brian got his glider license and spent many hours in the air.
But he never had the chance to fly in a Tiger Moth.
“It goes back to about 1962, I used to go to Biggin Hill Aerodrome, south of England, regularly. There were lots of Tiger Moths there but I never got to go up in one. So it’s always been on my bucket list to want to do it,” said Brian from Pooraka Retirement Living in Adelaide.
Earlier this year, Brian’s weight met the stringent restriction of less than 100kgs. He booked the flight at Aldinga Airfield, 45km south of Adelaide’s CBD, in a plane built only two years after he was born.
And not one second of the flight let him down.
“It was only a 20-minute flight but I wish to hell it had been longer,” Brian said.
“The thing that struck me is normally when you get in a plane you’re trundling down the runway and it seems like ages before it takes off.
“In this thing, you got out to the runway and the pilot said ‘I can’t see a thing where I’m going’, he got to the end of the runway, turned around, opened the throttle up and it just went straight up, it was fantastic.
“The funny bit was coming down, he said ‘Remember I told you you can’t see too well, it’s more true when you come in to land, I can’t see where the runway actually is’.
“He said, ‘The way we get around that is we fly in sideways at the runway’.
“He flew in side on and the moment he touched the ground he swung around!”
Next on Brian’s list is an aerobatic glider flight near Gawler, which is sure to be another stunning experience.