86-year-old Moira man Walter Mooney has just fulfilled a long-cherished dream to fly a Spitfire.
The Spitfire is long acknowledged as the plane which helped provide air cover for the Allies during the D Day landings.
The Spitfire is long acknowledged as the plane which helped provide air cover for the Allies during the D Day landings.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm Walter Murnay. I'm 86 years of age and I come from Moria.
00:05Have a wonderful flight, Walter.
00:06Thank you so much.
00:07Beautiful.
00:07Thank you.
00:08Our pleasure.
00:13Do you want to check the comms, Anna?
00:14Can you hear me?
00:16Yes, I can, Anna.
00:17Head down just a little bit for me. Head down a little bit.
00:20Thank you.
00:23Can you see me here?
00:30I remember being taken to my first air show and the guy was taking me around and I said,
00:40and what's that? He says, oh, that's one of the ones that helped us to win the war.
00:47I always had this dream of when I was working, I wanted to fly a Spitfire.
00:54About two years ago, I thought, right, I'm going to fly a Spitfire.
00:59This is something I want to do.
01:01So I got in touch with the Spitfires and I was supposed to do it last year
01:08and then matters crept up and I couldn't do it.
01:13And this year, I've had spinal surgery on me for January.
01:19It got better, and I thought, right.
01:21So I got in contact with Big Inhale and I asked them,
01:27could they give me a slot for the fly a Spitfire?
01:31And Anna put her hands in the air and says, Walter, you've got the control.
01:36And I always said to myself, right, you've played with planes all your working life.
01:42And now it's time to backdrift the bullet.
01:46And she says, Walter, dip your left wing.
01:49So I dip my left wing and now I'm flying sideways.
01:54Then she says, right, pull yourself up to the right.
02:00She says, we've now just done the victory roll.
02:19So
02:45these young chaps who flew these aircraft in the Second World War,
02:49they're going to be grateful for it.
02:53We have an awful lot to be grateful for.
03:04How was that, Walter?
03:06Absolutely fantastic.
03:07Brilliant. I'll do that for you. That's it. Well done.
03:10Well remembered, young man.
03:11Absolutely brilliant.
03:12Brilliant.
03:13It was fantastic.
03:14That's what we like to hear.
03:15I enjoyed that announcement.