At more than 1,000 feet above an old airfield, Harry Heasman, a 98-year-old British World War II veteran, stood strapped to the upper wing of a biplane. On 23 May 2026, just days before his 99th birthday, Heasman became the oldest male wing walker in the world according to Guinness World Records. The record attempt took place at Duxford Airfield, a former Royal Air Force station that is now home to the Imperial War Museum Duxford. For over nine minutes, Heasman stood on the aircraft as it flew through the sky above Cambridgeshire. "It was the most incredible experience of my life," he said afterward. Wing walking began in the 1920s when American daredevils performed stunts on biplanes for crowds below. For Heasman, the dream came from his youth. During World War II, at age 14, he left school to work in a furniture factory that built wooden gliders and de Havilland Mosquito bombers. He spent 11 months training with physical trainer Reef Cowell to prepare his body and mind for the challenge. Heasman undertook the record to raise money for the Lennox Children's Cancer Fund, dedicating the attempt to the memory of his wife and son, both of whom died of cancer. By the day after his flight, he had raised over £3,700 for the charity. Born in London on 30 May 1927, Heasman had waited nearly a century to stand on a wing and chase a boyhood dream.