80-Year-Old Veteran Celebrates Birthday... With A Skydive!

An 80-year-old veteran celebrated his birthday with a tandem skydive with the Red Devils.

Brian Pate hopes to raise £1,000 for a hospital that looks after disabled ex-service personnel, The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home in Worthing, Sussex.

Formerly in the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, Mr Pate parachuted into enemy territory during the Suez crisis in 1956:

"I remember distinctively what I thought as I was coming down (...) Is this a balls-up?"

Corporal Mike French, one of the Red Devils, said that sharing the experience with veterans is "always very special":

"It's always an honour for us to take our predecessors on tandem, just get them back up in the air (...) especially gentlemen who have been away and done it for real."

The pair jumped from 13,000 feet and took nearly six minutes to reach the ground.

The Red Devils are the official parachute display team of the Parachute Regiment and the British Army.

The team performs over 60 public parachute displays every year, with the aim of promoting recruitment and attracting media attention.

Each member of the 12-strong team has served a minimum of three years in the Parachute Regiment Battalion and has taken part in at least one operational tour of duty.