[WWI] RAF flypast for Europe's oldest man

[Rob Stewart]

A Hurricane and a Spitfire will be among aircraft saluting WW1 vet Henry 
Allingham, 112 this week.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/01/military.firstworldwar


"On the same day George Francis, the oldest living American male, will 
also turn 112. It is thought the only man in the world who is older is 
Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, who turns 113 in September. He says that 
abstaining from alcohol has kept him healthy. Allingham, with a twinkle 
in his eye, has always attributed his own longevity to 'cigarettes, 
whisky and wild, wild women'.

He was involved in the greatest naval clash of the First World War, the 
Battle of Jutland, and in 1917 was posted to France to service and 
rescue aircraft that crashed behind the trenches at Ypres and the Somme. 
He fell into a shell hole 'full of legs, arms, ears, rotten flesh and 
rats' in no man's land and has never forgotten the stench of death."

-- 
Rob Stewart
icbm: 33.86°N, 112.10°W