The royal, who was 31 at the flypast tribute, gave up his seat on a Spitfire so that wing commander Tom Neil, 95, could honour his pals properly.
Tom, who flew Spitfires and Hurricanes, said after landing: “It was delightful. It was nice to be back in a Spitfire again.”
He added of Harry: “He’s a lovely man. He came and welcomed me back. He was so keen, so welcoming.”
The Prince said he was “unbelievably fortunate and lucky” to be at the flypast event on his birthday.
The prince said: "We always
Harry has spoken of his admiration for the Battle of Britain pilots and told Channel 4’s Battle of Britain: Return of the Spitfires: “I can’t begin to comprehend what they must have gone through.
"Knowing that they had as much warning as they had, with more and more aircraft taking off, taking off, taking off and then getting that phone call saying 'Right scramble, off you go lads' and not really knowing what you are going to be confronted with, the different weather conditions, different conditions you are fighting in, these things are just full of fuel as well and a couple of rounds in the wrong place."
had this idea of trying to create opportunities for ex-servicemen or wounded servicemen ... to give them the chance to basically get their lives back on track, essentially to set themselves a task or a challenge and complete that task or challenge and prove to themselves or other people, but mainly themselves, that life in some cases has only just begun.
"It doesn't matter what your challenge is, you each have your own Everest. For these guys it may be just walking a mile down the road with their kids to school, whatever your challenge is we can provide that and find people like these guys who can showcase their ability to the other ones."
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