Earlier this year, my daughter bought me a flight in a spitfire. This childhood dream came true at a time when this country was celebration the 80th anniversary of VE day. The professional pilot, Charlie, took off from Newcastle with me sitting just behind him. He piloted the Spitfire to the mouth of the Tyne whilst demonstrating some maneuvers. Satisfied I could handle this beautiful machine, he handed the controls to me and said over the headphones. "Take it up the coast to Holy Island". I am not so naive as to believe Charlie wasn't "at the ready" if necessary. We flew at around 3000 ft and after he demonstrated a victory roll to the left, offered me the chance of a lifetime to do the same over Alnwick Castle. Apparantly the torque of the merlin engine makes rolls to the left very easy. I have no doubt that a signiicant amount of work was also being performed by the pilot but the Spitfire responded to my actions. I feel my life's ambition has been achieved. At no time did I consider myself as "one of the few" - but I am one of the few 88year olds who has taken the controls of a 1944 Spitfire. After the 45 minute flight, Charlie landed the aircraft back at Newcastle.