Doug Curtis survived 48 trips during the Second World War as an air force gunner without having to eject from his aircraft, but now, the 94-year-old has added skydiving to his list of accomplishments.

“I’ve had a number of guys ask me why I wanted to jump out of a serviceable plane,” said Curtis. “It’s been sort of nagging me for a long time.”

During his service, Curtis’ crew nearly made an unscheduled jump on two or three occasions after their plane was shot. The air force gunner said the crew faced the possibility of a crash landing in the North Sea or becoming prisoners of war in a hostile region in Holland but the aircraft managed to remain airborne.

Curtis regularly travels through the Beiseker area, roughly 70 kilometres northeast of Calgary, but it was only in recent weeks that he noticed a sign for Alberta Skydiver's Ltd. “The idea sort of germinated.”

Curtis said the actions of a friend of his from his time in Nanaimo, B.C. offered additional motivation.

“Jack Blair, he was in the army and he did 99 parachute jumps. So I figured if he could do 99, I could sure as hell do one.”

On Thursday, Curtis’ 94th birthday, the senior attempted to treat himself to his first tandem skydive jump, only to discover the business planned to cover all of his costs.

Was he nervous? “Not at all!” said Curtis with a laugh.  “I was not aware of any feelings of fright or anxiety that I’m conscious of. Internally, I might have been doing cartwheels.”

“The guy I’m strapped to, he knows what he’s doing and he’s very, very clear on ‘you do this, you do that’.”

David Clark, Alberta Skydiver's chief instructor, says Curtis was a model student, bettering the performances of much younger customers.

“He was just so calm and collected,” recalls Clark. “In the plane, he was having a laugh and a joke and then, as soon as the door opened, his game face came on.”

"It’s a mean feat for somebody of 94 to be physically fit enough to come and do a tandem skydive.”

Prior to his jump with Curtis, Clark’s oldest tandem passenger had been an 86-year-old.

After returning to solid ground, Curtis said he’d consider another jump.

“I’d do it again,” said Curtis. “After that experience, I would do it again.”