A 94-year-old former James Bond stuntman is being forced abroad for a bid to break his autogyro world speed record.

World War Two veteran Ken Wallis wants to reach a new record of 140mph in his amazing hand built twin propeller machine. But new red tape introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority now restricts autogyros to a maximum speed of just 70mph in Britain. The retired RAF wing commander, who flew his handbuilt autogyro Little Nellie in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice, set the world speed record 129.1mph in 2002.

He wants to set a new world aviation record this year to coincide with the centenary of the first flight of the Walbro monoplane which was designed and flown by his father Horace and Uncle Perry. So he will be forced to travel to France or America to make the record attempt. "I've held the world speed record for ages now but I'd just like to push it a bit further," he said.

"I am still waiting for the paper work to come through, but the Civil Aviation Authority is very negative. I think the only way I can do it without messing around is to travel to France or America. The Americans would welcome me over there. They have said they will be pleased to have the aircraft transferred there." Wing Cmdr Wallis started flying autogyros in 1959 and was the first instructor and examiner for the flying machine.

I just hope he doesn't get up there and think "what did I come up here for?"!

Despite his best efforts Ken was late for his hearing...

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