Thought To Be The Oldest Surviving Pilot From The Battle Of Britain

Spitfire pilot and poet Flt. Lt. William Walker AE died in an unspecified hospital in the U.K. on Sunday at the age of 99, according to a release posted on the website of the Battle of Britain Trust. He is generally regarded as having been the oldest surviving veteran of the Battle of Britain.

Walker's poem "Absent Friends" was one of a collection published in 2011 in aid of the Trust’s Wing Appeal. The collection also includes “Our Wall”, inspired by the Christopher Foxley-Norris Wall at the National Memorial to the Few, Capel-le-Ferne, where the names of all those who flew in the Battle are listed. At the 70th anniversary commemorations in July 2010, Prince Michael of Kent unveiled a copy of the poem carved in stone at the left hand edge of the wall. William, who read the poem to the many thousands of spectators, described it as a very proud moment.

Flight Lt. Walker was shot down during the Battle of Britain on Monday, August 26th, 1940. His squadron found themselves in a fight with Messerschmitt Bf 109s, and Walker’s plane was hit and badly damaged and he baled out, landing in the Channel with a bullet in his right ankle. He clung to a shipwreck before being rescued by a fishing boat, transferred to an RAF launch and brought ashore at Ramsgate.
 
In later life, he enjoyed recounting the story of how, as the surgeon pried the armour-piercing bullet from his ankle, it shot out and hit the ceiling. He kept the bullet as a souvenir.

Lt. Walker had celebrated his 27th birthday two days before he was shot down and so was somewhat older than many of his comrades. He had begun his business career in 1931 as a pupil brewer at the Aylesbury Brewery, learning brewing, malting, bottling and cooperage.

(Spitfire image from file)

FMI: www.battleofbritainmemorial.org