Joy Lofthouse, 92, calls her old plane "the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying."
The World War II Veteran was part of the ATA, or Air Transport Auxilary, an all-female division that shuttled planes back and forth from the front lines. Called "Attagirls," their casualty rate was as high as one in six. Ms. Lofthouse joined up with her sister in 1943 and flew a Spitfire, which she calls "an iconic plane."
Seven decades after the end of the war, she got to fly again. "It's very hard to describe the feeling," she said from the cockpit. "It almost makes one feel young again." The biggest difference? The communication. "We had no radio, and once you took off, it was complete silence. That was the big difference today: There was someone talking all the time."
Watch the video of Lofthouse's flight below.
Via The Mary Sue.