WHEN you think of a 100th birthday celebration, you probably don't imagine the centenarian taking to the sky in a helicopter.

But that’s exactly what Jill Farquarson from Frampton-on-Severn is doing next Sunday to mark the milestone.

Mrs Farquarson, who was a Spitfire pilot during the Second World War, will relive the thrill of soaring through the air as she rides in a friend's helicopter above Gloucestershire's countryside.

The daredevil turned 100 yesterday and spent the day with family and friends at Wisma Mulia care home in Frampton-on-Severn, where she now lives.

“I still can’t quite believe I’ve lived to be this old, it’s unbelievable,” Mrs Farquarson told the SNJ.

“People have come from as far as Canada, South Africa and even Indonesia to be here today – I can’t thank them enough.

“I realise how lucky I am to be here with so many friends and family on this wonderful day.”

Born in Cornwall, she moved to Burma with her family when she was just a few months old, returning to England a few years before the Second World War broke out.

Dancing on cruise ships, working on the counter in Harrods and appearing as a Golden Model at the famous Windmill Theatre in London were just a couple of jobs she tackled in her youth, before falling in love and marrying her husband George in August 1940.

With her husband also a test pilot in the RAF, Mrs Farquarson became a dispatch driver for the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1940.

In just under a year she achieved her pilot’s license and began flying Spitfires, transporting RAF plans to bases around the UK.

After the war she travelled the world, living in Zambia and Zimbabwe before settling in South Africa with her husband.

There she set up a beauty salon and a college in Durban before retiring to enjoy playing golf, bowling and the odd game of Bridge in the sun.

After being widowed and returning to the UK she enjoyed 10 years with her ‘toy boy’ Dick, before moving to Wisma Mulia in April 2012.

At her birthday party she thanked everyone for all they had done for her, and joked that now they could look forward to her 200th.