A World War II veteran is now Britain’s oldest ever parachutist, after celebrating her 102nd birthday with a skydive.
Daredevil pensioner Manette Baillie leapt out of a plane at 7,0000ft above Beccles Airfield in Suffolk on Wednesday.
Manette said she’s not a nervous person and felt pretty calm ahead of the jump, which she did in tandem with an instructor.
However, she told the MailOnline: ‘When you are waiting for the door to open and that blast of cold air hits you, with your legs dangling outside I did think “have I gone too far?”
‘And you drop at such a fast rate and you’re spinning around. I had to be careful when I was landing to make sure I didn’t land on my feet.’
Despite this she said she would happily do it again.
Manette is no stranger to adrenaline sports. To mark her 100th birthday she raced around Silverstone’s track in a Ferarri at an impressive 130 miles per hour.
She said she didn’t do anything for her 101st, so when her 102nd approached people teased ‘you must be doing something’.
Her father did a skydive when he was 83 and loved it, so Manette thought: ‘If he can do it at 83 why can’t I do it at 102?’.
Callum Kennedy from UK Parachuting, who was her tandem partner for the skydive, said: ‘Manette was as cool as a cucumber, throughout the jump.
‘In fact, she was so cool, I began to get nervous.’
Manette, from Benhall, Suffolk, hopes her jump will encourage other people who are ‘getting towards 80 and 90 not to give up anything’.
She told Radio 4: ‘Just keep going.’
She acknowledged, however, that she has been blessed with good health, which she doesn’t take for granted.
‘I’ve been so lucky to be fit and well that I’ve got to do something with it, that’s really the back of it.
‘I can’t just waste it, other people are crippled with arthritis and I’m not.’
The centenarian, whose first husband was a paratrooper, served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) in World War II.
She was stationed in South Africa then Egypt, where she met her second husband,Adam ‘Reid’ Baillie, who died 30 years ago.
As part of the skydive, Manette is raising money for three charities, East Anglian Air Ambulance, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Benhall Village Hall.
All are close to her heart for different reasons. She chose the air ambulancebecause an airlift saved the life of her only son Tony after a diving accident.
He was 23 when it happened and was left paralysed, but lived until the age of 70.
She is supporting the Motor Neurone Disease Association after the ‘cruel disease attacked someone very close to’ her and the Benhall and Sternfield ex-Servicemen and Village Social Club because she wants to ‘help do it up for the next generation’.
The hall, which she said started as ‘a rickety tin hut’, was originally built for ex-servicemen returning from the war.
Manette describes it as ‘the heart of the community’ and it’s where her birthday celebration will be held.
The skydive fundraiser has raised around £11,000 so far.
Asked the secret to her longevity, Manette replied: ‘Community, friends and being among people’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
