Seventy years after his dream of becoming a fighter pilot was dashed Derek Mitchell will take to the skies again, just short of his 90th birthday.
Back in 1944, as Hitler’s empire was crumbling, young Derek had dreams of taking on the Luftwaffe as a Spitfire pilot.
The 18-year-old was going through his initial pilot training after volunteering with the Leeds University Air Squadron, based at Yeadon.
He was, he admits, keen on taking the fight to the enemy and was upset he didn’t get the chance.
More than 70 years later he will get airborne in a Tiger Moth biplane, similar to the one in which he did his training in 1944 and early 1945.
His daughter Sue has arranged for the nostalgic flight as an early 90th birthday present, 13 months early.
Mr Mitchell, of Salendine Nook, is thrilled at the idea of flying again in a Tiger Moth.
“I was training on them and had passed my initial training and had been recommended for pilot training.
“My next posting was to be southern Rhodesia. I would have loved to have got my wings and a commission but the war finished. If I could have got my wings my life would have taken on a different track. I think flying would have been a big part of my life.”
Looking back, he hardly recognises his teenage self.
“When you are 18 you don’t understand the nastiness of war and it doesn’t frighten you. Personally, I was upset that the war had finished.”
The Tiger Moth, which was operated by the Royal Air Force as a training aircraft, was “wonderful” to fly, he recalled.
“I never went solo but I did take the controls for take-off, flying and landing. Take-off and landing speed was 50mph if I remember rightly.”
May 1945 saw his squadron grounded and he ended up working as a clerk for three years. He later worked in his father’s textile company in Bradford.
Over the years he has flown a great deal and once took the controls of a Cessna light aircraft but it’s been a while since he’s been in a Tiger Moth.
He is expecting a flood of memories when he finally takes to the skies at Sherburn-in-Elmet Airfield in September.
“I think it’s a wonderful present and my daughter is marvellous. I am quite thrilled and excited about it. I think Tiger Moths will go on flying forever. It is a beautiful aeroplane. I might do a loop the loop, which I did back in 1944!”
Mr Mitchell, who was married to the late Jean and has lived in Huddersfield since 1947, added: “It will be a nostalgic flight. I just wanted to do it again 70 years later.”
