AN 81-year-old former RAF pilot has told of his joy at finally getting a chance to fly a Spitfire.

Brian Lockwood, of Balcombe Road, Poole, had longed to take the iconic aircraft into the sky since he underwent a harrowing experience in his childhood. In 1940, during the Battle of Britain, a Luftwaffe ME 109 strafed the playground of his school with its guns.

That day he vowed he would join the service and take the fight to the enemy.

A child at the time the war ended, Mr Lockwood was only able to sign up for the RAF during the 1950s, when the Spitfire had been phased out of use as jet aircraft came to the fore.

After training with the University of London Air Squadron, he joined the RAF on a short service commission and got his wings flying the Harvard II trainer aircraft.

However, after being involved in a tragic car accident, which killed members of his squadron, Brian’s injuries meant he had to leave the RAF.

On Thursday, October 20, the pensioner finally got his wish to fly a Spitfire.

With the help of Boultbee Flight Academy, at Goodwood in West Sussex, Mr Lockwood finally took to the skies in a Spitfire Mk1X.

And thanks to the happy circumstance of its location, he was able to fly over his old school - Ardingly College - where pupils and staff turned out at lunchtime to see him perform a victory roll over the chapel.

He said he had been “inundated” with emails from the school since, telling him of the pupils’ excitement at seeing the Spitfire.

“There were 900 kids cheering and jumping as I flew over the school. Just before I did the victory roll, I thought to myself, ‘you silly old fool, you’re 80 plus, what the hell are doing?’”

He added: “I was absolutely delighted to get the chance to fly a Spitfire. It has been my life-long wish to fly one. The only thing lacking was that there was no Luftwaffe and no ammunition in the Spitfire either.”

Brian flew a total of 30 minutes in the Spitfire and besides take-off and landing, he had complete control of the aircraft.

As well as hundreds of schoolchildren, he also had his wife and son watching him from the ground.

He said: “It was challenging to fly at times, and the cockpit was tiny, but I picked it up automatically. And the weather was perfect on the day.”