British pensioner becomes world's oldest wing walker just days before 99th birthday

A British pensioner has set a new Guinness World Record as the oldest man to complete a wing walk, just days before his 99th birthday.

Harry Heasman, 98, took to the skies on Saturday above the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire - standing astride a 1940s biplane.

Mr Heasman was airborne for approximately six minutes, reaching a height of 1,000 metres.

He was strapped in with a perch to lean against during the flight.

Martyn Carrington, his pilot from Ethel Dares Wing Walking, said he was proud to be involved in the project - which saw him leapfrog previous record-holder John Symmonds, who achieved the feat at 95.

The 98-year-old's connection to aviation stretches back 85 years to World War Two.

As a 14-year-old, he left school to work in a furniture factory that had been converted for wartime production.

The facility manufactured gliders and the Mosquito bomber, which was constructed largely from wood.

These aircraft were later deployed in the D-Day landings, in which his brother participated.

The wing walk fulfilled a dream Mr Heasman had harboured since childhood.

He told The Times: "When I used to go to the cinema as a boy, I used to see what they called an American flying circus.

"And I used to think: 'Oh, that looks interesting. I'd love to do that.'"

Mr Heasman has lived at Eastham care home in Essex for the past year after his mobility declined to the point where he needed help climbing stairs.

The home runs a wish programme for residents, and staff rallied behind his ambition after shaking off their initial shock.

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Care home manager Karolyn Sisto said: "We did everything we could to support Harry to do this in a safe kind of way.

"Every day we've been focusing on his nutrition, his fluid intake. I've been taking his blood pressure every day.

"We've been encouraging him to go up and down the stairs, which is something he couldn't do a year ago."

Working with physiotherapist Reef, Mr Heasman rebuilt his strength and can now climb stairs independently again.

But the 98-year-old record-breaker insisted the focus should remain on his chosen charity rather than himself.

He said: "I'm second in this thing."

By Sunday, he had raised more than £3,700 for Lennox Children's Cancer Fund, which supports families affected by childhood cancer.

The cause holds deep personal significance for Mr Heasman, who lost his wife of 60 years to cancer in 2013 and his 32-year-old stepson to testicular cancer in 1982.

He said: "When you see old people, you think, well, they've had a life. But when young people die for no reason, there's children, babies being born with this terrible thing. They need all the help they can get."

But he won't stop in the skies - Mr Heasman's next ambition is completing the London Marathon.

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