We saved lives.... I'd do it again in a heartbeat

World War Two veteran Kate's RAF surprise as she turns 102

- ADAM ASPINALL

ONE of the last surviving female veterans who tracked enemy aircraft during the Second World War has celebrated her 102nd birthday with a surprise RAF visit.

Kate Orchard helped to save many lives and defend the skies by plotting the positions of bomber aircraft.

She is the last of a generation who founded the Fighter Controller specialisation during the war.

Kate was visited by nine members of the RAF's Deployable Air Defence Flight team at her birthday dinner, where they talked about her heroics.

Afterwards, she said: "If I could put my uniform back on and do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat."

Kate was born into a large Anglo-Indian family, one of 13 brothers and sisters, in India in April 1922.