At the age of 98, Harry Heasman finally got the view he'd been chasing since childhood, all while strapped to the top of a flying plane. The British World War II veteran spent upward of nine minutes standing on the wings of an aircraft more than 1,000 feet above Duxford Airfield in Cambridge on Saturday, earning him a Guinness World Record as the oldest person to ever wing-walk, reports UPI. He breaks the previous record held by John Symmonds, who was 95 when he did his own wing walk. Heasman tells This Morning that he wasn't nervous, though he concedes, "I don't like heights."
Heasman's feat was even more impressive considering he's been living in an elder care home for the past year for his own safety, his ability to move around having deteriorated to the point where he needed help getting up and down the stairs, per the London Times. The facility grants wishes to its residents, and Heasman let staff know he wanted to do the wing walk to bring his childhood dream to fruition. The manager of the care home says she was "shocked" and "apprehensive" about his request initially, but employees soon rallied behind Heasman to help him make his dream come true.
Heasman trained with a coach for nearly a year to prepare, telling Guinness that realizing this lifelong ambition at his age and securing the record was beyond what he'd imagined. The stunt doubled as a fundraiser for the Lennox Children's Cancer Fund and to honor his wife and son, both of whom died of cancer. A representative for the charity called Heasman "proof that it is never too late to chase a dream" and said his high-altitude effort will have a lasting impact on the families the organization supports. "It was the most incredible experience of my life, and if I could, I would do it all over again without a second thought," Heasman tells Guinness.
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