Former Wren relives daring Second World War flight aged 103

Former Wren relives daring Second World War flight aged 103 in a Miles Magister plane 84 years after she was offered a lift home in one by a Polish officer

• Christian Lamb joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service aged 19
• She was watched by family and friends as she re-lived a daring WW2 flight

She is one of the last surviving female naval officers who fought for Britain during the Second World War.

Now at the age of 103, former Wren Christian Lamb has taken to the skies in a Miles Magister plane — 84 years after she was offered a lift home from a party in one by a Polish officer.

Mrs Lamb, who joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service aged 19, looked thrilled as she soared into the air in the two-seater aerobatic aircraft.

She was watched by her family and friends as she re-lived her daring flight at the Shuttleworth Trust Air Show.

In 1939, Mrs Lamb had been on a training course in Bath, Somerset, when she missed the train back to her Navy base in Plymouth.

She is one of the last surviving female naval officers who fought for Britain during the Second World War. Now at the age of 103, former Wren Christian Lamb (pictured) has taken to the skies in a Miles Magister plane — 84 years after she was offered a lift home from a party in one by a Polish officer

She was watched by her family and friends as she re-lived her daring flight at the Shuttleworth Trust Air Show

In 1939, Mrs Lamb had been on a training course in Bath, Somerset, when she missed the train back to her Navy base in Plymouth. Luckily she was saved by a ‘delightful Polish officer’ whom she had met at a party the night before. Mrs Lamb recalled how she had to sit on her parachute in the back and the trip was made extra-thrilling by the pilot ‘dive-bombing cows’

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Luckily she was saved by a ‘delightful Polish officer’ whom she had met at a party the night before.

Mrs Lamb recalled how she had to sit on her parachute in the back and the trip was made extra-thrilling by the pilot ‘dive-bombing cows’.

She wrote in her memoir Beyond the Sea: ‘He astonished me by saying, ‘Shall I take you back in the old crate?’

‘I was nearly speechless when I realised, he meant his aeroplane. I stammered out my rapturous acceptance.’

She added: ‘Flying in an open plane, low down over the River Tamar and seeing the whole estuary and coast as on a map, was an experience I’d like to relive even today.’

Yesterday Mrs Lamb, who lives in London, finally got the chance to be a passenger once more on the Miles Magister, saying it was ‘a lot nosier’ than she remembered.

She said: ‘That was the most incredible and never-to-be-repeated experience, to be so free up in the air and the wind in my face, it was thrilling and I feel so lucky to have had this chance again at 103.’

Yesterday Mrs Lamb, who lives in London, finally got the chance to be a passenger once more on the Miles Magister, saying it was ‘a lot nosier’ than she remembered

Mrs Lamb who was a plotting and operations officer in the Battle of the Atlantic and helped to plan the D-Day landings

As a plotting officer, she charted the progress of convoys crossing the Atlantic Ocean amid constant danger from German U-boats.

She later helped in the planning of the D-Day landings from Churchill’s war room in London.

In 2021, Mrs Lamb told the BBC that her war work as ‘very, very exciting but very, very secret’.

She added that she did not speak of her key role in the conflict ‘for about 50 years’.

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