Licensed to thrill at 101...Olive takes a spin in ‘Bond’ copter
GUTSY grandmother Olive Davis went for a spin for her 101st birthday – in a James Bond-style gyrocopter.
Her pilot son Peter, 61, organised the flight and kept it a secret until Olive was driven to an airfield near her home in Blackpool yesterday.
The pair soared 500ft above the coast in the two-seater, taking in views of Olive’s Lancashire home as well as Blackpool Tower.
“It was just wonderful, it really was. I could see everything from up there,” Olive said.
“I’ve lived here more than 60 years but I’ve never seen it from above.”
She said she “quite often” flew in light aircraft when she lived in Africa but had never been in a gyrocopter. “I loved it,” she added.
An older, miniature version of the aircraft, featured in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery.
Businessman Peter, from Fleetwood, Lancs, flies gyroplanes at displays around the UK and borrowed a Cavalon demonstrator from AutoGyro UK for the big day.
“I suppose I could have just taken her for a pub lunch but Mum is quite adventurous and she isn’t easily scared,” he said. “We realised a while ago that in the 40 years I’ve been flying she’s never actually been in a plane with me. She mentioned it and that’s when I got the idea. She’s a wily old bird so she had a clue what was happening once she was driven into the airfield.
“I think she was just in awe during the flight. She didn’t say very much but she just kept smiling and patting me on the leg occasionally. She’s one very happy 101-year-old.”
Former housewife Olive was born in Bolton but lived in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia with her engineer husband, Ted, before returning to the UK in the mid-1980s.
She was widowed in 1986 but says her life has been filled with “many happy memories” and experiences. “I still enjoy life. I’m just a bit slower than I was,” she said.
So, what is she planning for her 102nd birthday?
“Maybe wing-walking or sky-diving,” laughed Peter.
His mother replied: “I don’t mind trying new things but I’m not sure about those. And certainly not right now. I’ve just been up in a plane. All I really want is a cup of tea!”
THERE are more sedate ways to celebrate your 101st birthday but grandmother Olive Davis is made of stern stuff. She was only too happy to mark the occasion with a daring flight high above the countryside in an autogyro similar to James Bond’s Little Nellie helicopter contraption.
As 007 might have said: “You Only Olive Twice.”