For the first time in almost 40 years, the man who used to fly the McDonald's Taupō DC-3 has climbed back in the cockpit - and it will be fair to say a small tear ran down his cheek.

The popular plane is usually locked but the McDonald's franchisees made an exception for Neville Worsley, who had a flying career that spanned more than six decades and included being 'torpedoed out the windscreen” of a topdressing plane.

Before Friday, the last time Worsley had sat at the controls of ZK-CAW was when it was a top dresser in 1983, though he'd visited it at McDonald's a few times.

The aircraft has a colourful history which includes wartime service, crop spraying and being on display in a car yard.

Neville says he loved flying DC-3s, doing more than 7000 hours in them during his time as a pilot for Fieldair, and it felt wonderful to be back in one.

Now 82 years old, Neville says he started flying Tiger Moths as a 16-year-old and spent his life flying as a top dressing pilot, instructor and tourist pilot – and has loved every minute of it.

'I've been very fortunate that my favourite hobby turned into a career, it's just amazing.

'The DC-3 was my favourite, I've never heard anyone speak badly about them. They were great, low maintenance, easy to control and were just a lovely aircraft to fly.”

He says his visit to McDonald's Taupō brought back memories of his old mates and the fun they all had.

Neville has written a book about his aviation exploits called Tiger Moths to Topdressing DC-3s, dedicating it to fellow top dressing pilots who died doing their jobs.

'Unfortunately there's too many to mention, I lost quite a few mates in accidents over the years.”

He had his fair share of mishaps, he says, the worst being when he ploughed into dense bush while flying a Fletcher top dressing aeroplane near Pahiatua in the Wairarapa.

'I was unconscious for six to eight hours and came to outside still wearing my harness – I got torpedoed out the windscreen into the bush.

'I ended up with a concussion and a few scratches, but no broken bones. I guess I was a bit lucky that day.”

Born and bred in Taranaki, Neville did most of his flying outside the district and spent about 20 years in Rotorua as an instructor and part owner and operator of White Island Airways.

He moved back to Stratford to retire with his wife but still continues to fly his own homebuilt aircraft and both of his sons are also qualified pilots.

Many Kiwis will have seen the vintage aircraft outside McDonald's Taupō, but few will know its rich history.

McDonald's Taupō franchisee Eileen Byrne says she's very protective of their world-famous DC3, and it's a real treat to sit and talk with a former pilot.

'We get enthusiasts from all over the world come to see it. We had to lock the cockpit in the end because people would try and steal the knobs and things from inside.”

Eileen says their DC-3 was instrumental in McDonald's Taupō being named the World's Coolest McDonald's back in 2013.

The history of the aircraft is as colourful as the people who flew her ,but in a nutshell, it rolled off the production line in California in October 1943 and saw service in the Pacific until the end of World War II before being sold to Australian National Airways in 1947.

It eventually made its way to New Zealand in December 1961, was registered as ZK-CAW and flew as part of the South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand fleet.

ZK-CAW also flew as a mail carrier before it was bought by Fieldair and converted into a crop sprayer and top dresser in 1971.

The DC-3 was finally withdrawn from service in October 1984 after completing a total of 56,282 flying hours.

It arrived in Taupō in 1989 after being bought by former Taupō mayor Rick Cooper who displayed it in his car yard, and when McDonald's Taupō expanded in 1990 it was made part of the restaurant and has remained there ever since.

-Stuff/Matthew Martin.