BOURNEMOUTH’S oldest resident who had a passion for helicopter flights has died at the age of 108.

Hilda Baybutt, who lived at Glenhurst Manor in Westbourne, died on Thursday, November 10, having appeared in Daily Echo many times over the years to mark turning a year older.

The former Bournemouth hotelier had a head for heights after enjoying trips out in a helicopter for both her 102 and 106 birthdays, facilitated by her only son, Nicholas.

He said: “ She was very down-to-earth, hardworking and loving. The family would always travel down to Bournemouth every year for her birthday to enjoy a party, which she enjoyed. She always had very nice birthdays.”

He said that Mrs Baybutt was very proud to have met her first great-grandchild, Dominic, in May, with over 100 years of history between the two relatives.

She flew in a helicopter for the first time in her life aged 102 at Bournemouth Airport after seeing a biplane in Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus at the age of 20.

Speaking in 2010, she said: “I went to Southport with my boyfriend. He saw a sign that said ‘Have a go in a plane from Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus, 5 shillings’. So I did.

“It was one of those planes with an open cockpit, where you had to wear a leather helmet and goggles. It was good fun.”

She took another trip in a helicopter in Blandford for her 106 birthday, which she described as ‘the best birthday ever’, before landing at Chewton Glen for afternoon tea.

Mrs Baybutt said: “I have never had a birthday like this before. I don’t know if it is any different to being 100, but I don’t really feel 106. I feel that I am doing very well for it.”

She had always promised Daily Echo that ‘If I knew the secret to getting to 100 and still looking young, I would write a book and make a lot of money.’

Nicholas said that his mother and father, Arthur, who died in 1990, had moved to Bournemouth from Manchester in 1938 to buy a hotel, which they had through the Second World War.

The couple went on to purchase the Woodcroft Tower Hotel, which is now closed, which they ran through until retirement.