86-year-old Moira man Walter Mooney has just fulfilled a long-cherished dream to fly a Spitfire

News Letter

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.

Transcript

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.

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