WWII veteran in speed record bid

WORLD War II veteran and ex-James Bond stuntman, aged 94, will have to leave his native Britain to attempt to break his world speed record in an autogyro due to speed restricting red tape.

Ken Wallis, MBE, wants to reach a new break-neck pace of 225km/h over 3km in his amazing hand-built twin propeller machine.

The retired RAF wing commander, who flew Little Nellie in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice, set the world speed record in 2002 when his autogyro hit 207km/h.

He wants to create a new world aviation record on the centenary of the first flight of the Walbro monoplane, a novel aircraft designed and flown by his father Horace and Uncle Perry.

But new red tape introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority since 2002 now restricts autogyros to a maximum speed of just 112km/h in Britain – half the speed Wing Commander Wallis wants to clock.

So he will be forced to travel to France or America to make the record attempt.

“I’ve held the world speed record for ages now but I’d just like to push it a bit further,” he said.

“I think the only way I can do it without messing around is to travel to France or America.”