ISSUE
Friday, August 22, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 73
In a bid to prove that age does not limit your passion, 99-year old Kate Orchard, entered the cockpit after years just a week before her 100th birthday, for a noble cause as she was raising money for charity.
Kate Orchard, who lives in Cornwall, was in the RAF during the second world war. Helping fight the Nazis from 1941 to 1945, she had the task of signalling jets to shoot down as a plotter.
Orchard also had the duty of identifying whether aircraft messages were friendly or hostile during 24-shifts in India's Madras (now Chennai).
She would pass on the information to Royal Air Force after determining whether or not an aircraft was hostile. This enabled pilots and soldiers to know which planes to shoot down.
Orchard was born into a family of 13 Anglo-Indian brothers and sisters. Her father worked as a chief telegraph inspector on the Indian railways when she was a child.
When India created the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1941, Orchard volunteered for it along with two of her sisters.
She went on to achieve the rank of Warrant Officer First Class and also won both the Service and India Service Medals.
In a bid to prove that age does not limit your passion, 99-year old Kate Orchard, entered the cockpit after years just a week before her 100th birthday, for a noble cause as she was raising money for charity. Kate Orchard, who lives in Cornwall, was in the RAF during the second world war. Helping...
In a bid to prove that age does not limit your passion, 99-year old Kate Orchard, entered the cockpit after years just a week before her 100th birthday, for a noble cause as she was raising money for charity.
Kate Orchard, who lives in Cornwall, was in the RAF during the second world war. Helping fight the Nazis from 1941 to 1945, she had the task of signalling jets to shoot down as a plotter.
Orchard also had the duty of identifying whether aircraft messages were friendly or hostile during 24-shifts in India's Madras (now Chennai).
She would pass on the information to Royal Air Force after determining whether or not an aircraft was hostile. This enabled pilots and soldiers to know which planes to shoot down.
Orchard was born into a family of 13 Anglo-Indian brothers and sisters. Her father worked as a chief telegraph inspector on the Indian railways when she was a child.
When India created the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1941, Orchard volunteered for it along with two of her sisters.
She went on to achieve the rank of Warrant Officer First Class and also won both the Service and India Service Medals.
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