A World War II pilot who is turning 91 in April is proving age is no barrier in his quest to honour his mates this Anzac Day from the skies above Sydney.
Bill Purdy will fly the lead Tiger Moth in the Anzac Day fly-past over Sydney Harbour.
He flew nearly 40 missions in Lancaster bombers during WWII. Despite that being 70 years ago, he is still very much at home in the air.
"It's certainly a tribute and I would like it to be a tribute to everyone that took part and particularly those who didn't make it because a lot of them didn't," Mr Purdy said.
As an 18-year-old, Mr Purdy had to get his parents' permission to join the war effort.
He was sent to England as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme and then joined Bomber Command.
The risks were great. Most men did not make it past five missions flying a Lancaster bomber.
Every mission was 'terrifying'
He managed a remarkable 36 missions, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross presented by King George VI.
"The number that survived 36, I guess, was fairly small," he said.
"I don't know if you know the actual statistics in Bomber Command but there was something like 120,000 from the time the war started until it finished and there were 74,000 casualties," he said.
Mr Purdy says every mission was terrifying.
"You tidied up your room so it wasn't going to be too much trouble for someone to get your kit back to Mum and all that sort of stuff," he said.
"It was that couple of hours between the time that you went to the briefing and the time that you took off was the hardest that you could ever believe.
"You didn't make friends, close friends. You were friendly with everyone on air base, but the odds were they wouldn't be there the next morning when you came back."
But he did not make 36 missions without many close calls.
"On three separate occasions we were hit by anti-aircraft fire," he said.
"When we came back, the bomb aimer had a little sliver taken off his neck where he'd been leaning back over his bomb site and the navigator had a piece that came down through the top of the roof and buried itself in the table.
"You always felt lucky after a trip."
The bombing raids killed perhaps up to 600,000 Germans, many of them civilians.
Perhaps this is largely why after the war, those involved were not embraced by the public and politicians, and were instead seen as the darker side of victory.
"Any war is bloody and terrible business not to be indulged in lightly," he said.
"But we didn't bring that war upon ourselves. We were fighting for existence.
"Poor old Bomber Command had a pretty rough deal after the war and it's only recently I think people are starting to realise what a tremendous force it was."
D-Day 'a sight to be seen'
He was in the air on D-Day, when the Lancaster bombers took out a radar station and naval gun, ensuring a smooth passage for the Allied troops.
"No-one will ever see the sight again," he said.
"There were 5,000 small boats on the way to the beach, 130,000 troops and they were escorted by just under 300 warships, including six battleships.
"It was a sight to be seen - as I've said so often I could have put my wheels down and taxied home on them I think.
"The whole sea was just covered with them."
Reconnecting with Lancaster mates
Then he came home to Australia, forging a successful career heading one of Australia's most well-known brands, Arnott's.
But as he got older he reconnected with his Lancaster mates and returned to planes.
Seventy years on, the ranks of Bomber Command are thinning.
It is only now that Mr Purdy has felt a need to speak out about what they did and the great sacrifice the unit made.
"When people are tending to get nostalgic about these things, I think I'm one of the few that are still around that can tell what it was like," he said.
At 90, he is unstoppable. He is fit to fly and manages the climb into a Tiger Moth with ease, fuelled by a determination to honour those who were not as lucky as him.
"You never got close to anyone. You lived or died with your crew, basically," he said.
There are not many of these blokes left; we should acknowledge their service and sacrifice.