WW2 veteran, 105, tells GB News how he was shot at while flying iconic Mosquito fighter plane: 'It was full of holes!'

A World War II veteran has told GB News how he narrowly avoided being shot down over Berlin while flying the iconic Mosquito aircraft.

Speaking to National Reporter Will Godley, 105-year-old Colin Bell recalled how the parachute he was sitting on managed to trap the shells that were shot at him on that flight.

Recounting what happened on the flight, Mr Bell told GB News: "This was the occasion when a shell came up under me and it lifted up the aircraft and interfered for a brief period with the fuel supply.

"I didn't know, all I knew was I'd got the propellers of wind milling around, and we had no power. And my navigator, Doug, leaned across and said to me, what do we do now? Which I thought was a bloody stupid question.

"And I said we wait, and eventually the power came on again. I leaned across to Doug, my navigator, he was a Canadian and wonderful bloke, and I said to him, you weren't frightened, were you, Doug? And he said, 'no, I wasn't frightened, I was bloody terrified!'"

Mr Bell then revealed that upon inspection of the plane the next morning, the duo found it was "full of holes" from the attack.

He said: "In the morning, we went down and looked at the aircraft. It was full of holes, and someone came up to me and he said, 'maybe you would like to have a memento of last night?'

"And he handed me two shell fragments, and I said, 'where did you find them?' He said, 'in the parachute that you were sitting on'."

As Mr Bell prepared to see the flights of three Spitfire planes carrying fellow WW2 veterans, he told Will that his favourite craft will always be the Mosquito, as it had "two Spitfire engines".

He said: "If you had to fight in the war in the air in World War II, and I wouldn't recommend it, you couldn't have a better aircraft to fly than the Mosquito.

"A great deal is talked and written about the Spitfire, but in my judgment, the Mosquito was a better aircraft because it's got two Spitfire engines."

Asked what memories the sounds of the Spitfire engines bring back for him, the veteran said it makes him remember a "very dangerous time" in his life.

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He said: "It brings back memories of a very dangerous enemy that was intent on enslaving us, and the necessity to destroy that enemy by attacking their manufacturing capacity. And by and large, I think we did it pretty well.

"I didn't attack Peenemünde, where they were developing the weapons, but some Lancasters did, and they caused an enormous amount of damage.

"And the commandant of Peenemünde, who was lunching with Hitler, went down to see what had happened, and he was so appalled when he saw it that he had a seizure and dropped down dead, which I found immensely satisfying."

Asked by Will whether he reckons he could still fly the planes at 105-year-old, Mr Bell said although he "might have some difficulty in landing it", he could "probably manage it".

He told GB News: "I think I could probably fly now, but my depth perception is not as good as it was.

"And therefore I think I might have some difficulty in landing it, but probably not, I think I could manage it. Perhaps the landing wouldn't be as smooth as it might have been when I was 25."

Today, three World War II veterans are set to have their dreams come true by taking flight in an iconic Spitfire plane.

Thanks to the efforts of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, Paul Terry, Ivan Staines and Alfred Cooley have been given the chance to take to the skies in the famous war planes for the first time.