It’s never too late to experience an extraordinary adventure and look at the world from a completely unexpected perspective. At 99 years old, Helga Duffy, a former nurse who now resides in a nursing home in Devizes in Wiltshire after having lived for a long time in Frome in Somerset, has officially become the oldest wing-walker in the world. Strapped securely to the roof of a biplane at Rendcomb Airport, near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, the woman completed a flight lasting more than five minutes at 1000 meters above sea level.
The idea was born when her granddaughter Jackie Rose saw on television the stages of the previous title holder, Betty Bromage, who had achieved the record at 97 years old. Together with her other granddaughter Julie Preece and the staff of the care facility, the family encouraged the grandmother to try the feat. Despite arthritis pain and a bad right knee, enthusiasm won over any physical hesitation.
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A challenge done for charity
The experience in the British skies gave Helga Duffy indescribable emotions and a pure adrenaline rush. Once she reached cruising altitude, the new record holder said she took 3 deep breaths, enjoying extraordinarily pure air and feeling such intense joy that she compared it to a true state of euphoria. Upon landing, the official adjudicator of Guinness World Records, Will Munford, presented her with the official certificate amid emotional applause from those present.
The undertaking also had a noble solidarity purpose: the flyby made it possible to raise over 1600 pounds, equal to approximately 1900 euros, for the Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance association, a cause particularly dear to the nieces and the non-profit representative Sam Conway. For her part, the previous champion Betty Bromage, who boasts 6 wing walks to her credit, warmly congratulated her rival, promising however with irony that she wants to fly again when she turns 100 to take back the scepter.
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