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'Inspirational' RAF veteran dies aged 102

BBC An elderly woman in a light blue jacket with a number of badges and medals and a large poppy in the background.BBC
Kate Orchard, who has died aged 102, sold poppies in Camborne

A Royal Air Force veteran from Cornwall has died aged 102, her family has said.

Kate Orchard from Camborne joined the Women's Auxiliary Corps in India in 1942 and worked alongside both the RAF and the Indian Air Force on 24-hour watches, plotting aircraft targets and sending signals to the air warning systems.

In April 2022, she took to the skies in a glider aged 99 to raise money for Help for Heroes.

Later that year she was selling poppies at a supermarket in Camborne, saying she would do it "any time".

An elderly woman wearing dark glasses in a glider cockpit.
Mrs Orchard took to the skies in a glider to raise money for Help for Heroes

Her son Bentley confirmed Mrs Orchard died on Friday at Beeches Care Home in Hayle.

"Through her dynamic personality, she touched so many people in so many different ways," he said.

"She was exceptional and an inspiration to the very end."

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