WORLD War II pilot Murray Adams was reunited with the Wirraway A20-10 he flew in 1941.

The robust 94-year-old spent a few hours at the Australian National Aviation Museum last week recalling his war days 73 years ago.

Mr Adams travelled from Brisbane to see the aircraft after a war planes enthusiast told him it was in Moorabbin.

He didn’t known how to fly when he joined the air force, but after “a bit of luck getting in” he was soon soaring over the Victorian countryside in training in the Wirraway.

Mr Adams remembered the cheeky detour he took on his last flight during training when he “buzzed” his home town, flying only about 50 feet above market goers.

“I was very naughty and if I’d been caught then that would have been the end of my flying days,” he said.

“But I found my father riding on a horse and threw out a small note on a parachute which I’d prepared the day before telling him to get down to the police station and stop them from reporting it.”

Mr Adams flew in Hurricanes, Gladiators, Tomahawks and Kittyhawks in North Africa during the war years and was shot down once.

It was exciting, but the young pilot wanted to fly the faster, more powerful Spitfires, and soon his chance came.

“I ran into a an old flight commander late one night in a nightclub in Alexandria and we got to talking.

“He happened to be in charge of a squadron of Spitfires and when I asked him what I had to do, he just said it would happen.

And before he knew it he was flying Spitfires and Tempests over Italy and the rest of Europe.

“It was incredibly exciting,” he said.

Adams’ escapades

Shotdown

He was shot down on December 1, 1941 just south of Torbruk in Libya.

The squadron was pounced on by Luftwaffe forces and before he knew it, Mr Adams had a Messerschmitt 109 on his tail “with guns blazing”.

At the time he only had 17 hours operational flying behind him and all up 126 hours of flying solo under his belt.

After managing to break out of a spin and land his plane he tore out the clock and headed off into the desert where he got about as lucky as one can get.

First he avoided Nazi troops by hiding behind the only shrub in sight, then later stumbled across a lost British supply truck fully stocked with water and bully beef.

He managed to steer them in the right direction and eventually got them all back to camp safely.

Joining up

“I couldn’t fly, so I decided I was going to sign up to join the army.

“But I had a friend who told me my thinking was faulty and that if I did that I’d end up waist-deep in swamps, carrying 30kg packs in who knows where.

“So he convinced me to join the air force.

“I managed to cheat my through the medical, but then I got put in front of a panel and they asked me 10 questions about planes and I got none right.

“I thought that was my goose cooked, but then the fellow in charge asked me what my favourite sports were and I told him tennis and skiing.

“He didn’t care for tennis but he was a mad skier and I was in.”