RAF veteran takes to skies for 100th birthday celebrations

A former RAF Squadron Leader took to the skies at White Waltham Airfield to mark his 100th birthday.

Centenarian Jack Hemmings visited the airfield on Tuesday to celebrate the landmark occasion.

He strapped in alongside pilot Nigel Rhind as the duo enjoyed an afternoon of aerobatics aboard a Slingsby T67 Firefly.

Jack, from Rye, in East Sussex, joined the RAF in 1941 and became Squadron Leader of 353 Squadron the following year.

He was awarded the Air Force Cross for exemplary gallantry while flying and later received the RAF’S Master Air Pilot award in 2017.

He was also an early pioneer of Mission Aviation Fellowship, a Christian organisation which has been flying light aircraft for more than 75 years to deliver aid to isolated communities.

One of Jack’s first missions saw him fly alongside MAF co-founder Stuart King as the pair navigated through Libya, Egypt, Kenya and the Belgian Congo using the River Nile as a guide.

The pilot later earned himself the nickname ‘Crasher Jack’ after his Gemini aircraft came down in the Burundi foothills after being caught in a strong headwind.

Jack and his co-pilot miraculously escaped unharmed as they collided with a banana tree on their descent.

More recently, in 2020 he underwent emergency heart surgery following a sudden heart attack and spent a number of weeks receiving end-of-life care but has since made a startling full recovery.

Multiple generations of Jack’s family watched on in White Waltham on Tuesday as he took the skies including his son Adrian, grandson William and son-in law Chris Watts.

Wife Kate Hemmings said: “We want to give a special thanks to the wonderful NHS team at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton who conducted an Aortic Valve Replacement procedure earlier this year, which saved Jack’s life.

“He is the oldest patient to have received this operation – and we believe that the motto ‘fear not’ from his early 353 Squadron, along with firm Christian faith have helped him all the way through.

“Jack is an awesome, amazing man, and the whole Hemmings family want to wish him a very happy 100th birthday.”