You are never too old
Betty Bromage, a 97-year-old grandmother and Guinness World Record holder for the oldest female wing walker, made her sixth wing walk this August. Having discovered the adrenaline-fuelled hobby at age 87, she has no intention of stopping. Bromage, a resident at Pegasus Homes’ Latheram House in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, first tried wing walking—the act of moving along an aircraft’s wings during flight—in 2016. She turned to extreme sports after moving into an assisted living facility following the 2004 death of Donald, her husband of 51 years. The facility’s fully catered lifestyle removed the burden of household chores, allowing her the freedom to pursue new challenges.
Since that first experience, she has completed four additional wing walks, including one to mark her 90th birthday. Her adventurous spirit has also led her to tackle a zip wire in Snowdonia. “I remember, donkey years ago, seeing a Crunchie bar advert, and there was a lady standing on the top of a plane,” Betty told PA Real Life. “I moved to a (retirement) house, where they do all the cooking for you and everything, and I thought: “What I’m going to do? There’s no shopping, there’s no chores.” “I was 87 then, and then that came to me – I thought I’d like to have a go at (wing walking). My daughter-in-law took me to the airfield and I did my first flight there when I was 87.” By the following year, Betty decided that a straight-forward wing walk was “a bit boring,” and asked the pilot to do “something different.” She said: “He did what they called a figure of eight, and I thought, oh gosh, we’re getting a bit near the ground.”
Betty’s current penchant for extreme sports is a surprising departure from her younger self. She laughingly describes having been a “townie” with no interest in the countryside. At one time, she quipped, she barely knew what a cow looked like. It was only later in life that she felt the urge to seek out adrenaline-fueled experiences, a shift inspired, in part, by her experience with disability. In her 60s, Betty was left paralyzed for three months after a spinal injury, explaining: “I had to challenge myself, then, to walk and push myself. It’s what I want, because I can’t do so many things,” she added, referring to her adventurous hobbies. “I’m nearly blind, so that doesn’t help. It’s frustrating. I know if somebody helps me up (on to a plane), I can get up there. My grandson helped me before: I rang him, and he said, ‘I’d rather you didn’t do it, Gran, but yes, I will help you’.” Bromage joked that climbing onto the aircraft wing was the hardest part, adding that she is already brainstorming a new challenge for her 100th birthday.
Wing walking wonders
On the first day of my wing walking lessons, I looked down nervously and asked my instructor, “What are all these buttons for?” He explained calmly…
“Those are to keep your shirt on.”
An American after staying in London for a month asked a local, “Why do British eat like German planes are still flying overhead?”
The briton replied,” Why do Americans eat like they have free healthcare?”
I don’t know why people are afraid of flying.
Most crashes happen at ground level.
What noise does a flying broom make?
“Broom, broom.”
August 6th Birthdays
1911 – Lucille Ball, 1977 – Jennifer Lyons, 1977 – Soliel Moon Frye, 1974 – Vera Farmiga
1928 – Andy Warhol, 1970 – M. Night Shyamalan, 1809 – Alfred Tennyson, 1982 – Leslie Oddom, Jr.