Second World War veterans celebrate their 100th birthdays with Spitfire flights

Two Second World War veterans took to the skies in Spitfire aircraft to celebrate their 100th birthdays.

Robbie Hall, 100, and Dorothea Barron, who is 100 next month, flew in two Spitfires from the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar in Westerham, Kent, organised by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans.

Ms Barron told the PA news agency: “I’m really honoured to be allowed to fly in these fantastic machines and I love it to pieces. It’s a dear little aircraft and I hope it goes on giving pleasure to people for ever and ever.

“It’s a beautiful little aircraft and I absolutely fell in love with it. I adored it up there and I did so enjoy it.”

Robbie Hall and Dorothea Barron pose next to a Spitfire (Gareth Fuller/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Gareth Fuller

“My husband was in Coastal Command and then Bomber Command and he never flew in a Spitfire, but I did.”

Ms Barron served with Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) between 1942 and 1945, teaching semaphore to the troops ahead of D-Day and helping to test the Mulberry Harbours used in the invasion.

Ms Hall was one of the plotters serving with the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) based with Bomber Command at High Wycombe. To preserve secrecy, the station was known as “Southdown”.

Ms Hall said it was “absolutely wonderful” and “glorious” to fly in the Spitfire, adding that she “loved it”, including flying upside down.

Ms Hall and Ms Barron took to the skies in a pair of Spitfires (Gareth Fuller/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Gareth Fuller

Vice President of the Taxi Charity, Dick Goodwin, said the the flights went “really well” and the women “absolutely loved it”.

“I think that the pilot did a couple of rolls for them as well, went upside down for a bit,” he said.

“When they came down, you would think they did it every day. They were just full of the joys of it and chatting away, not a slightest bit of concern or anything.”

Ms Barron’s flight was a gift from Taxi Charity ambassador Johnny Gallagher for her birthday, while the Taxi Charity paid for Robbie to fly in the other Spitfire.

The Second World War veterans have a chat after their special flight (Gareth Fuller/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Gareth Fuller

Both veterans are regulars on Taxi Charity trips – last weekend Ms Hall was in the Netherlands with the charity for Wandeltocht, the world’s largest one-day commemorative march in remembrance of the Battle of Arnhem 1944.

The Taxi Charity is run by volunteer London black taxi drivers and has supported thousands of veterans since 1948.

It provides entertainment and arranges free trips for veterans from various conflicts to the Netherlands and France for acts of commemoration and days out to museums, concerts, or social events across the UK.

The charity received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021 and celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023.