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EPISODE · Jan 2, 2011 · 38 MIN

Tony Iveson

from Desert Island Discs · host BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran RAF pilot Tony Iveson.Aged 21, he survived being shot down in his Spitfire over the North Sea during his first taste of combat in the Battle of Britain. Unusually for a fighter pilot, he then went on to join Bomber Command and the famous Dambusters squadron, sinking the German battleship The Tirpitz and winning a Distinguished Flying Cross. Aged 89 he returned to the skies, becoming the oldest man to fly a Lancaster bomber: "Well, I got out of that aeroplane and looked at it and it and thought how did we do it?" he says. "I know it was a long time ago and I was young and fit and a professional flier. But I thought about some of my friends who had been lost and it was an emotional experience." Record: Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor Book: A volume of Somerset Maugham's short stories Luxury: Two established vines and a tin bath to make wine Producer: Rachel Simpson.

What this episode covers

Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran RAF pilot Tony Iveson.Aged 21, he survived being shot down in his Spitfire over the North Sea during his first taste of combat in the Battle of Britain. Unusually for a fighter pilot, he then went on to join Bomber Command and the famous Dambusters squadron, sinking the German battleship The Tirpitz and winning a Distinguished Flying Cross. Aged 89 he returned to the skies, becoming the oldest man to fly a Lancaster bomber: "Well, I got out of that aeroplane and looked at it and it and thought how did we do it?" he says. "I know it was a long time ago and I was young and fit and a professional flier. But I thought about some of my friends who had been lost and it was an emotional experience." Record: Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor Book: A volume of Somerset Maugham's short stories Luxury: Two established vines and a tin bath to make wine Producer: Rachel Simpson.

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This episode is 38 minutes long.

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This episode was published on January 2, 2011.

What is this episode about?

Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran RAF pilot Tony Iveson.Aged 21, he survived being shot down in his Spitfire over the North Sea during his first taste of combat in the Battle of Britain. Unusually for a fighter pilot, he then went on to join...

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