The pair took off from Ohio on Friday for the 5,000-mile trip

Retired British Airways pilot Denis Wood, from Petworth in West Sussex, and Jack Berkin, from Elstree in Hertfordshire, completed their 5,000-mile journey at Blackpool airport.

The 68-year-olds' arrival on Tuesday night was the culmination of a five-year dream.

They first hatched the plan in 1998 in southern France to make the crossing to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first successful powered flight.

We knew full well that if we survived a crash we would have frozen to death anyway Jack Berkin

And on Friday - before thousands of people including former astronaut Neil Armstrong - they took off from Dayton, Ohio in the US.

Their tiny four-seater plane Velocity made refuelling stops in Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Scotland before touching down on English soil at 2030 BST on Tuesday.

Mr Wood said: "I cannot believe we have actually done it. It's tremendous.

"I have been flying all my life but this is a dream come true."

Mr Berkin, a retired healthcare administrator, said: "Denis is extremely experienced and his skill in flying the aircraft was unbelievably.

The pensioners marked the 100th anniversary of powered flight

"This has been a great experience."

Mr Wood said it had been a good crossing but there was a particularly worrying moment when the wheels did not drop on their approach to landing in Greenland.

"If we had not got the gear down there is no doubt the aircraft would have been written off," he said.

But he spotted the problem and the plane landed safely.

Mr Berkin agreed the most frightening moments were in Greenland.

"We were surrounded with all the safety equipment but knew full well that if we survived a crash we would have frozen to death anyway." The pair planned to fly home on Wednesday to meet their families.