Fading of the Few – Battle of Britain hero dies at 99

Flight Lieutenant William Walker, born in Hampstead, north London, suffered a stroke last Thursday and died in hospital on Sunday, the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust said.

Born on August 24, 1913, Mr Walker joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve on September 2, 1938, and was called up for full-time service on September 1, 1939. He was commissioned and posted to 616 Squadron at Leconfield, near Beverley, on June 18, 1940.

During the late morning of August 26, a large German bomber force with heavy fighter escort was heading towards targets in England and was engaged over Kent and the coast by Defiants, Hurricanes and Spitfires.

At Kenley, Spitfires from No 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron were scrambled and found themselves in a fight with Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Mr Walker’s Spitfire was hit and badly damaged and he baled out, landing in the Channel with a bullet in his right ankle.

He clung to wreckage before being rescued by a fishing boat, transferred to an RAF launch and brought ashore at Ramsgate, where he was greeted by a large crowd and presented with a packet of cigarettes by an elderly woman.

In later life, Mr Walker enjoyed recounting the story of how, as a surgeon prised the armour-piercing bullet from his ankle, it shot out and hit the ceiling. He kept the bullet as a souvenir.

Trust chairman Richard Hunting said: “Flight Lieutenant William Walker was a warm, engaging and friendly man who always had a twinkle in his eye.

“He worked hard for the trust and gave freely of his time to help with fundraising for The Wing – which is the trust’s planned new building at the Capel-le-Ferne site of the national memorial to The Few. He was much loved by his fellow veterans, his family and friends and all of us at the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust.”