AN adventurous woman will be celebrating her 80th birthday in unusual fashion this summer.

Audrey James, of Malvern, will fly in a two-seat Spitfire, the legendary combat plane, on Thursday, July 11 as a treat from her partner Tony Wray.

She admitted: “The Spitfire flight is on my bucket list but I never imagined it was achievable.

“I’m feeling excited and nervous at the prospect!”

Audrey will head from the historic WWII fighter station at RAF Biggin Hill, South East London, over the Seven Sisters cliffs in East Sussex and down to Beachy Head.

The Spitfire is a British fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during and after World War II.

She added: “Tony is also booking a chase plane to fly alongside the Spitfire with a friend of mine, Barbara Thomas, accompanying him.”

Anyone who knows Audrey will perhaps not be surprised by the nature of her 80th birthday celebrations.

In September she plans to travel the length of the Mississippi, the 2,340-mile river which flows from Minnesota, USA, to the Gulf of Mexico.

Audrey and Tony also walked in the footsteps of their fathers when they headed to the Gold Beach near Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France, where UK soldiers landed on D-Day.

And the Spitfire flight will be another achievement ticked off the list for young-at-heart Audrey as she becomes an octogenarian.