Veteran who built Mosquitos in WW2 turns 100

A veteran who helped build some of the most iconic planes of World War Two has celebrated his 100th birthday.

Stanley Hills, from Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, got together with close family on Saturday for his celebrations.

He joined the De Havilland Mosquito design team as a teaboy when he was 14 and ended up building parts for the aircraft, which was one of the most versatile warplanes to be built.

"I had no ambitions to do anything special," he said, adding that he just knew he had to work.

"I needed a job and that is where I started. I was a teaboy and was on the telephone exchange and that was it, my first job," he said.

But he quickly moved up the ranks and ended up making parts for the planes.

"I felt very confident in what I was doing, even though I was 14," he said.

The Mosquito was built from spruce, birch plywood and was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder" and "Mossie".

At 18, he was enlisted in the Army as a private and recalls fighting on the front line.

"Those years were good for me, although I was in the war," he said.

"[The Army] did shape my life. Being a soldier made me more confident to do things [and] taught me discipline which carried on throughout my life."

After the war, Hills trained to be a photographer, documenting rubber imports arriving at Canary Wharf.

The veteran spent his 100th birthday in the garden with afternoon tea and a barbecue.

"I don't feel 100. I feel about 55 – something like that," he said.

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