105-Year-Old WW2 Bomber Pilot Shares a Century of Wisdom | Colin Bell (E405)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.6 β’ 4.8K Ratings
ποΈ 20 April 2026
β±οΈ 58 minutes
ποΈ Recording | iTunes | RSS
π§ΎοΈ Download transcript
Summary
At 105 years old, WWII Mosquito pilot Flt Lt Colin Bell, DFC, remains a masterclass in mental discipline and strategic focus. Having survived 50 high-stakes missions over Germany in one of the war's fastest and most dangerous aircraft, Colin breaks down the vital distinction between eliminating fear and controlling it, a survival mindset that translates directly from the cockpit to the highest-pressure environments of the modern world.
In this episode, he delivers a sobering warning on the dangers of national and personal complacency, drawing sharp, uncomfortable parallels between the political climate of the 1930s and the world we live in today. Colin also shares the "Mosquito mindset" for living a full and meaningful life: a philosophy rooted in decisive action, ruthless preparation, and the unwavering emotional discipline required to navigate a crisis without losing one's sense of self.
This conversation serves as a rare blueprint for building the courage and clarity needed to navigate an increasingly uncertain world.
Flt Lt Colin Bell's book Bloody Dangerous: Fifty missions over Germany: The last first-hand account from WW2, is out now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Dangerous-missions-Germany-first-hand/dp/0349148996
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, Colin, you're three days away from turning 105. |
| 0:07.0 | Correct. |
| 0:08.0 | You truly are one of the last men standing from those mosquito pilots in World War II. |
| 0:14.0 | Probably. |
| 0:15.0 | Over 50 missions over Germany, 13 of them over Berlin itself. |
| 0:19.0 | And we want to find out from you today what it takes to fly into hell and most importantly |
| 0:25.5 | what it takes to come home again. |
| 0:27.4 | I'd simply say that it was a job to be done. |
| 0:31.8 | We had to defeat the Germans because they had some very nasty plans of what they were going to do over |
| 0:39.9 | here if they ever subjugated us. You just had to get on and do it. It didn't help to have |
| 0:46.6 | too much imagination. I always remember that Sailor Milan, who was a Battle of Britain pilot, a very experienced battle of Britain pilot, |
| 0:57.3 | he said that in his experience, survivors were those possessed of not too much imagination. |
| 1:05.0 | Fear kills. And so it's not in my nature to be fearful. |
| 1:14.6 | I'm not boasting. |
| 1:15.7 | I'm just stating a fact. |
| 1:19.4 | I don't fight uneasy, and I just got on with it. |
| 1:24.2 | And I had the very good great fortune to have with me a superb Canadian navigator, |
| 1:30.9 | the name of Doug Redmond. He started out life as a lumberjack and then he became a navigation |
| 1:40.9 | and instructor. I was an instructor of American cadets out in America |
| 1:46.9 | when I finished my training. So we were both instructors. We were both very experienced. I was |
| 1:55.8 | an experienced pilot. He was an experienced navigator and we were good team. And again, Doug didn't get frightened |
| 2:07.0 | except on one occasion when a shell exploded under the aircraft and it lifted us up. And we lost |
... |
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