A WOMAN with multiple sclerosis is learning to fly, thanks to a charity set up in memory of World War Two fighter ace Sir Douglas Bader.

Claire White, 57, from Eastbourne, has won a scholarship through a charity set up in memory of the World War Two fighter ace Sir Douglas Bader.

She was diagnosed with MS and colon cancer ten years ago forcing her to give up work.

She was offered a place with the charity Flying Scholarships for Disabled People last year but had to put the scholarship on hold when her husband Peter White died from a lung disorder aged 65.

Claire will now start her flying course next month, learning to fly with Bristol Aero Club at Cotswold Airport, after her husband - a former Eastbourne CID chief - insisted she must do it.

She is being sponsored by The Red Arrows and on Friday she met the team at the Eastbourne Air Show.

She said: "I was coming back from a holiday in Spain with my husband when a man approached me and asked me if I had ever thought about flying.

"I was taken aback but when I got home I looked him up and it turned out he was connected to the charity.

"My husband was so ill last year and when he died I could not think about doing the flying course. Before he passed away he told our children that whatever happens I absolutely must do this course.

"I feel sad I have to make this journey on my own but I know it is what he would have wanted and I want to make him proud and help change perceptions about what disabled people can do."

Flying Scholarships for Disabled People (FSDP), based at Fairford in Gloucestershire, has trained more than 400 people since it was set up in 1983.

Its aim is to give men and women with disabilities the chance to realise their full potential through the mental and physical challenge of learning to fly.

Claire is one of eleven disabled individuals who have been offered a flying scholarship this year.

She was presented with her scholarship certificate by FSDP Patron HRH Prince Faisal of Jordan and Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, Chief of the Air Staff at a ceremony at the Royal International Tattoo – the world’s biggest airshow.