Brave Betty becomes oldest person to do the loop-the-loop as she wing walks at 97
Soaring high in her latest daredevil stunt, 97-year-old Betty Bromage (UK) has not only broken her own record for oldest wing walker (female), she also became the oldest person to perform a loop-the-loop wing walk (female).
It was at an airfield in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK, on 4 August that Betty took to the skies with a mission to raise money for charity.
She claimed both world records at the age of 97 years and 123 days. She’d previously claimed the wing walker title in 2022 when she was 93 years and 145 days old.
And despite her advancing years, it seems that there’s simply no slowing her down.
Explaining how she became a thrill-seeking stunt woman, she said: “I saw [broadcaster] Ben Fogle helping some disabled people get up on to a mountain and I thought, ‘Well, I could do something different’.
“I can walk, but I wasn’t able to walk for a long time.”
After moving into sheltered accommodation at the age of 87, Betty decided she had to do something to change her circumstances.
It was then that Betty took up wing walking, and she’s since done it numerous times to raise cash for various charities.
This time, the funds she raised went to the Cheltenham Gloucester Hospitals Charity.
When asked what her loved ones think of her exciting new hobby, she said: “They think I’m mad! It took a long time to talk my son and daughter-in-law round, but they’ve been with me every step of the way and encouraged me in what I’ve done.”
And it’s not just taking to the skies in this way – Betty also did a zipwire off Snowdonia when she was 90 and has gone abseiling.
Now that she’s 97, does this daredevil have any plans to stop?
She said: “People say you’ll be here until 100. I don’t want to be here until 100, but if I am, I’ll be here doing another wing walk.”
After the pilot floated the idea of Betty going upside down during her flight, she was surprisingly game for it.
She said: “I’ve done the loop-the-loop. It’s interesting going upside down and inside out and everything. You just have to have faith in your pilot.
“I have to concentrate on the things I can do, not what I can’t do.”
Her charity mission is another thing that keeps her going strong.
Passing on some words of wisdom, she said: “When I was very young, I was a nurse in a Barnardo home, and there was a sign above my bed that said, ‘We pass through this world but once, any good you can do, any kindness you can show, do it now, don’t defer or neglect it, you’ll never pass this way again’.
“And I think that’s a very good way to think. You can live by that. If everybody lived by that it would be a better world.
“I was 18 and I remember it word for word. I forget what I did yesterday, but I remember that.”