A 70-year-old former RAF pilot yesterday relived the stomach-wrenching moment when a vintage bomber he was manoeuvring at an airshow accidentally took off because his co-pilot hit the throttle.

The recently restored Handley Page Victor, a vital part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent in the 1950s and 1960s, was intended only to taxi along a runway in front of spectators, before stopping for photographs, at a Leicestershire airshow.

Bob Prothero, a retired RAF group captain from Portsmouth, was on the flight deck, with an engineer as co-pilot. As the aircraft gathered speed, Mr Prothero instructed the co-pilot to slow the aircraft, but instead he increased the throttle — and then froze. The 75-tonne V-bomber rapidly reached take-off speed and began to climb. As it lumbered into the air, reaching 150ft, it veered to the left — heading towards a housing estate.

Mr Prothero, who last flew a Victor in the 1980s and whose flying licence had long since expired, was faced with a split-second decision: “I was petrified. Everything was pure instinct,” he said. “I was shouting at the co-pilot to pull the throttle back. I saw the nose rise into the air. I thought, ‘Oh God here we go, how are we going to get out of this one?’.”

Mr Prothero could try to land the aircraft immediately — but risked missing the runway and crashing. Or he could fly the heavy aircraft around before landing. “I had to make a snap decision. I pointed the nose down and noticed we were well and truly airborne, but because of the crosswind we were not over the runway. Thankfully, I managed to pitch the aircraft back towards the runway and away from any spectators.”

Mr Prothero landed the aircraft — named Teasin’ Tina — without a scratch. He described the event as the “most terrifying nine seconds of my life”.

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If you think you can’t do something flying or what ever, watch this.

This young woman, Jessica Cox was born with out arms and learned to fly. As a former flight instructor and a professional airline pilot. I can tell you this is really an inspirational thing to everyone, much less pilots. Way to go Jessica. Watching her fly so smoothly and confidently is very impressive (even with two arms). Trust me I know, nicely done. Wish I had this video when I was teaching full time.

The plane she is flying is called an Ercoupe (pronounced air-coupe) which does have rudder pedals. The Ercoupe was made in the late 40’s and early 50’s. The unique thing about Ercoupe is it’s one of the few airplanes to be made and certified with out pedals. With out rudder pedals Jessica is free to use her feet as hands.

Bell Aircraft test footage of early helicopter. Pilot was thrown into blades, but only suffered a broken wrist.

On the heels of significant military setbacks in 1944, the Japanese military launched a campaign of kamikaze attacks, in which pilots attempted to crash their planes into American warships. Their aeroplanes were heavily laden with explosives, so a crash meant almost certain death for the pilot. Why, then, did these pilots wear helmets?

One reason is that in at least some instances, kamikaze pilots survived their missions. Another is that planes commonly experienced severe turbulence before reaching their targets, and in these cases Japanese military commanders had clear reasons for wanting their pilots to be adequately protected.

Perhaps even more important, the aviator’s helmet had become emblematic of what it meant to be a pilot. Kamikaze pilots were pilots, and all pilots wear helmets.

But the most compelling explanation for why kamikaze pilots wore helmets is that it was not the express intention that these pilots commit suicide. Their charge was to destroy their targets by any means necessary. But the hope was that the pilots would return safely, even though the expectation was that most would not.