AN air hostess who used to be allowed to fly the plane while the pilot took a break has returned to the cockpit for the first time in almost 50 years.

Ann Harvey became an air hostess when she was 23 to fulfil her passion for travel, but when she married she had to leave her job and has missed it ever since.

In 1959, Mrs Harvey served on Dakota DC3s, which were originally used by the US Air Force and RAF during the war.

To the bemusement of passengers visiting the flight deck, she was often to be found flying the aircraft while the pilot took a break.

"The captain would say to us if you can drive a car, you can fly a plane," she said.

"He did select the auto pilot, but not until we had proved ourselves capable of flying manually."

Mrs Harvey, 70, was re-acquainted with the sights and smells unique to her beloved aircraft when she took her grandsons Josh and George Ramsey, from Thorpe Underwood, near York, to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Josh, 14, is keen to become a fighter pilot, and wanted to find out more, so he spent time chatting to the base's trainees.

While he was looking to the future, his grandmother recalled her glory days when, for the first time in almost 50 years, she was back at the controls of an aircraft - one of Linton's Tucano trainers.

In her days as an air hostess, creature comforts were minimal.

The cramped and noisy cabin may have smelled of oil, but the hostesses were expected to maintain a fragrant demeanour - even down to wearing stiletto heels for the duration of the flight.

Once, in Luxembourg, a window blew out on take-off.

"Despite screaming passengers, I quickly moved them to a safer seat," she said.

"I went to tell the captain about the incident and he just said 'I hope you did something about it'.

"One of my pre-flight jobs was to check that pins and covers protecting the undercarriage and sensor probes had been removed.

"After counting that all passengers were aboard, I would then report 'five locks, two pins and 32 souls', so that he knew it was safe to depart.

"He was very particular about his propellers too: on the ground they had to be turned so that both were at exactly the same angle as one another."