Most people imagine a quiet celebration for their 101st birthday. Bernard Gardner chose something very different. More than eight decades after flying in wartime, the World War II veteran returned to the sky in a Hawker Hurricane, performing a steep turn and a full loop over Duxford Airfield in England. The moment linked living memory with a machine from another era.
A Return to the Hurricane
Bernard Gardner last flew a Hurricane in July 1944. In 2024, at the age of 101, he climbed into the rear seat of the world’s only two-seat Hurricane still flying. The aircraft had not carried a veteran of the war in decades. As it lifted off, Gardner experienced the sound, motion, and feel he remembered from his service years earlier.
After landing, he described the flight as enjoyable and familiar. He spoke calmly about steep turns, clouds, and control, as if time had folded in on itself. For him, the aircraft felt like an old workplace rather than a museum piece, and the experience came naturally.
Preserving the Hawker Typhoon
The flight was organized by the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group, a small volunteer charity. The group is working to rebuild Hawker Typhoon RB396, a real combat aircraft shot down behind enemy lines on April 1, 1945. Their goal is to return it to flight as a moving memorial.
The Typhoon entered service in 1941 and became central to low-level ground attack operations. It was especially important during the fighting after the Normandy landings, where it disrupted German transport and armor. The work was dangerous, and many pilots were killed or wounded. Unlike other aircraft types, there is no physical memorial dedicated solely to them.
Memory, Skill, and Flight
Gardner flew Hurricanes early in the war and later transitioned to the Typhoon, completing 71 combat operations. He rarely spoke about his experiences unless pressed, often saying he was simply doing his job. Yet his stories reveal heavy anti-aircraft fire and sudden losses of fellow pilots.
He had always enjoyed aerobatics. During training, he taught himself to loop properly by studying manuals and practicing alone. That skill remained. During his birthday flight, Gardner looped the Hurricane smoothly, proving that experience, not age, defines ability.
Sound and Meaning
One focus of the Typhoon restoration is its Napier Sabre engine, an H-24 design with a sharp, high-pitched sound unlike Merlin or Griffon engines. Those who remember it describe a noise that stood apart on wartime airfields.
For Gardner, hearing and seeing these aircraft matters. As veterans disappear, physical reminders become vital. Flying machines, he believes, carry memory in motion, keeping history present in the sky.
Keep going for the video below:
