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WW2 airman celebrates 100th birthday with RAF flypast

Ross McCrea
BBC News NI
Pacemaker Fred Jennings, an elderly man with white hair wearing a knitted blue jumper, pictured in the Radio Room named after him at the Ulster Aviation Society's hangar at the former Maze prison site.Pacemaker
Fred Jennings pictured here in 2016 in the Radio Room named after him at the Ulster Aviation Society

Most people don't get an RAF flypast to celebrate their birthday, but then most people are not former RAF men turning 100.

Fred Jennings, a veteran of World War Two, will reach that significant milestone this weekend

Originally from Newmarket in Suffolk, Fred joined the RAF in 1943 where he worked installing radar systems into the B-25 Mitchell aircraft.

Now living in Lisburn, his friends at the Ulster Aviation Society have organised a weekend of special events which began on Friday when an Atlas A400M flew over the society's hangars.

Speaking to BBC News NI ahead of his celebrations, Fred recalled when he was first dispatched to the Netherlands, "the Dutch had no radar people, so the air force lent them four from the RAF, one of which was me".

"So there were eight foreigners amongst 98 Dutchmen," he added.

After the allied forces captured an airfield in Belgium, Fred was stationed at Melsbroek, now Brussels International Airport.

Fred said it was "an interesting period, including when we were attacked by Focke-Wulf 190's", a type of German aircraft.

"Fortunately I was outside the radar shack and saw them coming," he added.

"And right beside it was an unfilled bomb crater, which was conveniently dived into."

Ulster Aviation Society Fred Jennings a fellow radar engineerUlster Aviation Society
Fred Jennings (left) alongside a fellow radar engineer when he joined the RAF in 1943

After the war, Fred was posted to RAF Agra in India until he left the service.

"Every morning when I climbed the stairs in air traffic control, I just looked down the river, and there's the Taj Mahal," he recalled.

After the war, Fred got a job at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and in 1963, he was given a letter telling him to take the radars he was working on to Nutt's Corner.

Not sure where Nutt's Corner was, he asked his boss who replied: "I think it might be near Birmingham."

But it was the County Antrim airfield that Fred was bound for.

"Nutt's Corner was one of the first air radars to be installed in Northern Ireland, but it worked perfectly."

Dimitri Kuznecovas An Atlas A400M aircraft. The plane has four propellers and a broad grey body and raised tail and is in flight in the picture with the wheels raised up Dimitri Kuznecovas
An Atlas A400M flew over the aviation society hangars on Friday

Fred went on to settle in Northern Ireland and has been an active volunteer with the Ulster Aviation Society for more than 20 years.

During that time, he helped put together a radio display room, as well as putting together the society's library.

Ray Burrows, chairman of the Ulster Aviation Society, described Fred as "an outstanding example of living history".

"He has a very special place in our hearts and we wish him the happiest and most memorable 100th birthday," he added.

As part of the society's celebrations for Fred, the RAF organised a flyover of an Atlas A400M at the hangars on Friday.

An elderly man is looking off to the side of the camera. He is wearing a navy zip up fleece, a peak cap and a striped scarf. Behind him is a book shelf and a red door.
WW2 veteran Fred Jennings will become a centenarian this weekend

Reflecting on how it feels to be turning 100, Fred thought back on his time with the RAF saying he feels "a bit unhappy about it".

"Unhappy in a sense that you feel you did quite a lot while you were attached, and suddenly it comes to an end," he added.

As for the secret to a long life he joked: "It's a matter of avoiding fast women and slow horses."