94-year-old veteran completes daring wing walk

By Ed Chatterton and Richard Williams

A retired army major with a long history of derring-do has taken to the skies once again to complete a wing walk - aged 94.

Donald Harrison strapped himself to the wings of a biplane to raise funds for the care home where he now lives on Monday, Sept. 28.

The great-grandfather-of-one hit speeds of 120mph at around 1,500ft at Sleap Airfield in Wem, Shrops.

Daredevil Donald, who was in the British Army for more than 20 years and did parachute training at Sandhurst, said the experience proved "exhilarating."

Donald, who served with The King's Own Royal Border Regiment and saw active service in the Middle East during the 60s, said: "You only get one life so I thought I might as well go for it.

"It was rather exciting. You really feel every moment of it.

"It was more demanding than I expected, but you certainly knew you were doing something and it was extremely exhilarating.

"The experience is very different from parachuting. It feels much more personal, if that's the right expression."

Donald was raising money for the Bushell House Charitable Trust that runs Bushell House Residential Care Home in Preston, Lancs.

The dad-of-three and grandfather-of-seven added: "I had to stop doing a lot of the volunteer work I was doing because of my age, so I decided to do a degree instead.

"At 78, I earned a history degree from the Open University.

"Since then, I've always looked for different challenges. I did a zip line in Snowdonia when I was 86.

"There's always been this idea of wing walking in the back of my mind.

"I mentioned wing walking to my family and my son was quicker than me to act on it.

"The next thing I knew, he'd booked it for me.

"I was also raising money for a local charity linked to the care home. It's a charitable institution with a history of its own, so I was pleased to support it.

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"Now I'm back at the care home, everyone wants to know all about it."

Donald undertook parachute training at Sandhurst during his time in the forces - but this was the first time he had flown in a biplane for many decades having only flown abroad for vacations.

He added: "I signed up for the Army straight from school in 1950 because I wanted to go to Sandhurst.

"I passed the exams, went Sandhurst in 1951 and was commissioned in 1953.

"I joined the Border Regiment and I served all over the Middle East, spent two years on exchange with the Canadian Army, attended staff college courses with the Navy.

"I was in charge of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on seven separate occasions.

"I saw active service in the Middle East twice, particularly during the troubles in Aden in 1967.

"I served for 21 years before leaving because of my children's education.

"In those days, Army families often had to send their children to boarding school once they reached secondary age. For various reasons, I decided it was time to leave.

"After the Army, I spent seven years in the motor trade running a Vauxhall dealership.

"I then joined the Civil Service and spent 12 years with the Scottish Office, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

"For the last four years of that role, I was sent to America to help attract business investment into Scotland.

"Even when I retired, I had to stay busy - I've always had to keep doing things.

"Every few years I sit down and then realize I need to get back up and do something else.

"I think staying active has helped. I've always wanted to keep moving and keep challenging myself."

Donald's son, Matthew Harrison, said his dad took the wing walk in his usual off-hand manner.

He said: "It was great, although he was his typical reticent self and just said it 'was fine,' but I could tell he loved it.

"He told the pilot that he used to parachute back in the day when there wasn't a reserve chute - so it either worked or it didn't so he took the wing walk in his stride."