Tribute to D-Day pilot who was afraid of heights

A 104-year-old D-Day veteran, who confessed he was afraid of heights, has died.

Harry Garthwaite, known as Happy Harry, had a long, exciting and heroic life, his family said, after his skilful piloting saw him survive many adventurous situations.

He flew unusual aircraft being able to land them anywhere and also carried senior military personnel around the country and Europe, his son David Garthwaite, from Solihull, said.

He was one of the last RAF pilots of D-Day. His funeral will be held in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Mr Garthwaite moved to live with his son and grandson in Chelmsley Wood three years ago after falling ill and suffering mobility issues.

But his son said he remained independent doing his washing and tidying and enjoying seeing friends.

"If he had gone into a care home he wouldn't have lasted a month," he said.

"We didn't do an awful lot of caring duties.. just made sure he was independent and a happy man."

He said overall, his father had an amazing life.

He was born in Huddersfield but moved to Hartlepool and "illegally" qualified for the RAF at the age of 17, as he had about a month to go until he reached the required age of 18.

He started as a night fighter and then a day fighter before undertaking special operations, which included carrying out weather reports for the Met Office.

"Sounds a bit odd but if you're going on a bombing raid, you need to know what the weather's going to be like when you get there," he said.

"So nutters like my dad used to fly there first and do a weather report and bring it back."

He then helped fly senior officials around the country before and actually on D- Day.

His most fearful experience was seeing people at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on the day it was liberated, his son said.

Seeing emaciated and lost prisoners and "countless huge earth mounds" containing thousands of bodies was the "one image and time in the entire war he found he had tears in his eyes".

He was later on given an award for parachuting behind enemy lines with a special ops colleague and successfully stealing a Heinkel He 111 (a German airliner) which could then be tested for weaknesses.

"Its weak point was it couldn't climb very fast, it was slightly under powered, so the recommendations to all spitfire and all the other pilots that tackled these was, come at it underneath because you'll catch it," his son said.

After the war ended he met his future wife and the pair lived in the same house in Gosforth in Newcastle for about 60 years until moving to live with his son.

"His nickname in the family was Happy Harry," he said.

"He had a long life, he had a full life, and exciting life, a loving and caring life and a heroic life.

"Don't be sorry that he's not with us any longer. Just be happy he had what he had."

Mr Garthwaite died on 5 September. The funeral will be held at Woodlands Crematorium at 14:00 BST with a wake at The Jaguar Experience Centre, his family said.

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