TODD: The EIB High Note today is about a grandson who helped lift his grandfather’s spirits in more ways than one. So there’s an 80-year-old, Malcolm Hanson, that is feeling depressed after he put his wife of 57 years into a care home due to Alzheimer’s Disease.
So his 12-year-old grandson, Harrison Gurney, set out to fulfill his lifelong dream, the chance to fly in a Spitfire, the most famous plane of World War II. Hanson loved vintage aircraft ever since he witnessed a dogfight above him in 1945 in London.
HANSON: The Spitfire pilot was chasing the enemy plane in a very tight circle. I felt very proud that somebody was looking after us.
TODD: So his grandson took to writing letters to airfields and private Spitfire owners all across the U.K., and also did extra chores to save up money for the surprise. These letters moved the staff at Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex, and they agreed to help. Plus, they threw in a surprise of their own, allowing both grandpa and grandson to take to the skies at the same time, waving at each other from separate aircraft.
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