Arnold Walker (RAF officer)

He was a Liberal councillor for Warley Ward in Halifax during the early 1950s and was elected president of the Halifax Building Trades Council.

Walker was known to be a fierce competitor in sport, business and life. He played golf off a handicap of four, was captain of West End Golf Club, Halifax and also made an honorary member of The Royal Perth Golf Club. He skied virtually every year in Kitzbühel from 1948 until he was 80 years old. He was known in Kitzbühel as "Halifax", some locals even assuming he was the Earl of Halifax.

On 8 August 1944, he was awarded an "immediate" Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), which is a field award; the citation read:

On 14 November 1944 he was awarded a bar to his DFC.

However, on his return from operations in October 1944, Blondie was posted as an instructor on the Hawker Typhoon, based in the New Forest. He was released from RAF service in 1946.

After his experiences flying with No. 94 Squadron, Walker was offered an instructor's job. He did not want this, so volunteered to transfer to No. 6 Squadron RAF who were preparing to join the war in Italy. He was promoted to war substantive flight lieutenant on 1 December 1943.

In August 1942, Walker joined No. 94 Squadron, which soon received four Hawker Hurricanes donated by Lady MacRobert, whose three sons had died while serving in the RAF, one of them with No. 94 Squadron. Their names and coat of arms were painted on the nose of the aircraft, and Walker was allocated "Sir Roderic", which he flew during the North African campaign. He was promoted war substantive flying officer on 1 October 1942.

Walker undertook pilot training in Canada under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. On completion of his training he was a sergeant. He was then commissioned into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Service No 115919) as a pilot officer on probation on 1 December 1941. He returned to the UK and converted to the Hurricane. He was then sent to the Middle East, sailing to Freetown in Sierra Leone before flying across the desert to Khartoum and on to Port Said where he was mostly protecting convoys. His first kill was a Junkers Ju 88.

He married three times. He married Maisie, who he had known since he was 18 before being sent to the Middle East in 1941. He had a son, Johnny who predeceased him in 2007, a daughter, Diana, three stepsons and two grandchildren, Melissa and Daniel.

Arnold Edgar "Blondie" Walker DFC & Bar (4 April 1917 – 9 November 2008) was a British fighter pilot during World War II who flew 169 sorties, was shot down three times, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice.