A NORTH Hampshire airfield was the setting for a young glider pilot’s record-breaking solo flight.

Guy Roth became the first person in the UK to fly solo on his 14th birthday when he took to the skies above Lasham Airfield.

The law in the UK recently changed, lowering the minimum age a person can fly a glider solo from 16 to 14.

Just six hours into his 14th birthday, on Monday, June 24, Guy took the controls of a Lasham Gliding Society glider and flew by himself for nine minutes, doing circuits of the airfield before coming into land.

The youngster, from Headley, near Haslemere, on the Hampshire/ Surrey border, is a member at Lasham, and is following in the footsteps of his two older brothers William and Henry, who both fly gliders. He started having lessons in July last year.

Speaking about the record-breaking flight, he said: “It was very good. It just felt like any normal flight, apart from not having an instructor to talk to in the back.

“I was not nervous at all. My mum had full confidence in me that I could do it, and so did my instructor.”

His mother Rebecca watched the history-making flight with Guy’s two younger brothers, Toby and Felix, before taking Guy to his school in Guildford.

She said: “Gliding gives a child an opportunity to grow and flourish, do things for themselves, and take responsibility.”

Werner Stroud, general manager of Lasham Gliding Society, said he believed Guy is the first person to fly solo on his 14th birthday.

He said: “There was another person up at Bicester. They were ready to send him up on his 14th birthday, but the weather prevented him. We are all delighted for him as he’s a really lovely lad.”