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Era 11 Back On A Fighter Pilots Log Tha Of A Local Man From 194045 ii Brad Walker or A Since the la war several ex- books have been written bout wartime Hying From the flies viewpoint we enjoyed aul Dam Busier Retch for the Sky From the other aide caino fighter pilot tin Knokei own story raw For the and Adolf Gal- The First and the Last flukes of wartime flying and lest flying of the Haw Jar Hunter provided the another fine book Pilot British film pro- i mil Any houtewifc mould hart thought or ill But got to the builder of the Navy mighty new carrier for aluminum foil to licet their product UttC During on wooden which lot of To their hull from and during the pe riod limply the ordinary foil I hit for a marine builder time he thirty aluminum for life and other impotUni building ALUMINUM OH CANADA AN duccra have followed up with two excellent pictures based on Dam Busters and Reach for the Sky The latter story of the leg less ace Douglas was shown in Newmarket this past fall An enthusiasm for anything about aircraft and flying espe cially wartime flying prompted this writer to spend a little time looking up the records of a local businessman Brad Walker who was a fighter pilot in the last war and who was awarded Dis tinguished Flying Cross tho American Air Medal and who was twice mentioned in dispatch es He was decorated by the late King George VI in 1944 Among bis fighter pilot friends overseas were two other district men the late Lloyd Aurora an ace who was killed In action and who Is now a resident of Aurora and who operates the Chateau tourist home on St He knew Douglas and flew for a while with the late Buzz Beurl- the controversial Canadian ace Walker la mentioned in a new book by an Group Captain which come off the press two months ago It is Wing Leader by Group Captain J Johnny Johnson with whom Walker was associated In fighter sweeps over France Born in Hamilton Brad Walker took his schooling in on don Ont where he spent most of his youth He attended Central high school in He joined the at the start of the war trained as a pilot and served for years in two war theatres By he had attained the rank of Squadron Leader Brad considers his wartime career as a closed chapter Now he is married has three children and he operates a large automobile business He lives at Bradford but spends most of his business hours in Newmarket He wont talk much about his exploits during the war but his story is worth telling because to many it will bring back memor ies and because the story itself is interesting Having joined the air force In March Walker quickly pro ceeded to elementary flying training at No 3 Cram- near London He was in the first class at and train ed on Fleet biplanes He went on to Uplands near Ottawa and trained on Harvard being in the first dais of the Empire training plan The late Billy Bishop the fa mous war ace presented Walker with his wings in and said No matter how tired you feel In a dogfight remember the other fellow feels just as tired this he remembered for a long time Then England Twelve of the who graduated at Uplands immediately went to England and Brad was one of them who went directly with a squadron In those early days of the war pilots were not plentiful and they were needed In a hurry so he did not have the advantage of go ing through operational train ing unit Pilots went overseas later went to an His first home was the station at North Weald Essex where he went with the nucleus of pilots from No fighter squad ron to form No fighter squadron It was later colled when Canadian squadrons were designated by the numbers When the Canadians went to No they jumped from to Hurricanes forming a squad ron and training as a squadron Brad Walker did his first solo in a Hurricane on January and made first operational trip on March The Battle of Britain had been over the previ ous fall and he was entering some of the toughest fighting of the war when the Allies were on the way to gain air superiority Aurora Pilots Wing Commander Lloyd Chad- burn and Wing Commander Norm were in No 2 squadron with Walker was killed in the fall of 1942 Following hi first operational trip in March Brad Walker con tinued operational work with cer tain periods off for resting and re grouping right through the re mainder of the year During the summer he did sweeps over France and other parts of Europe In October the squadron was re- equipped with new Hurricanes which carried bombs this was an innovation for fighters which had never been used In the same way before That part of was lough said Walker We lost pilots of the original squadron during that period They were badly outnumbered by the Germans at that time In October Walker undertook a short training period with bombs on his new Hurry which he called K For Kiltie He said It was the first time mm Pi J ir x till that gifts you all MM MMPKT NEW PIONEER MODEL i Buy a thats tight enough yet tough enough to do the New ModH a quality ounce to and production perfect balance makes for the handling of any for at your dealers Hoirt Brad Walker right with Wing Commander Lloyd Chadburn Aurora who was killed In notion in the fall of bombs were used on fighters to my knowledge In bombing the pilot generally aimed the nose of Ills craft down in a degree dive and used his to aim at a target He stayed No then called until mid-Do- ember and was posted to Squadron as a flight com mander Previously lie had held the rank of pilot officer and now became a flight lieutenant The majority of operations were from the south end east of I and north of the Thames The dive bombing was done from Warnwoll Dorchester Most of the dive bombing was on shipping off and in the channel His first of British daylight bombing raids w in Walkers log for Oct states Escort 24 Blen heims over seven shot down In fight our wing lost three New compact shape New New control servicing bar lengths ame low price A tight in MM INDUSTRIAL IIMITIO SEE THEM AT Geo CONSTABLE Tractors Truck Farm Equipment Newmarket Hot One On he hud taken part in fighter escort of bombers which were raiding a Benzine fac tory at Twentyfour Mossorschmldt were shot down by the Allied force which tost On this day Walker shot down a Me Walker does not say bow many aircraft he down dur ing the war lie won the DKC and this award was not given un less a pilot had shot down Official records usually show less than the actual number shot down by a pilot be nurse there must he strict confirmation of the kills Sometime a pilot did not have to see an enemy aircraft take the final plunge to earth The daylight raids a big thing in itHt It was the first time itic went on the offensive As a flight commander with he led the squadron on many raids because many commanding officer were being lost In action HI first CO in this was a Squadron Leader Douglas A new CO was L Campbell an Englishman with the DFC Walk er led the squadron when Camp bell was not flying Later Camp bell was shot down There really was some intens ive fighting In from January until I finished my first tour We were on continual operations un til we finished in July he said During that time the squadron was up nearly every day on oper ations and rhubarbs Rhubarbs were flights over franco by two or four fighters when weather was bad and the rest of the squad ron could not operate Cloud ceiling was feet or less and they would hide around the clouds dart down after trains and troop movements II was a lot of fun but it was debatable as to how much good it did says Walker of rhubarbs But they were good for morale A fighter pilot is like a race horse all keyed up and when the wea ther Is bad and the squadron can not get off the ground he is more keyed up These rhubarbs re leased some of the tension at least One day out of four of us came back Brad recalls of a certain operation One of the four to return was his wing man the son of the minister of agricul ture Mr Gardener Mr Garden ers son later was killed In April six of the boys were lost In one fight including Squadron Leader Campbell the CO Brad Walker was the com mander temporarily until a New took over Squadron Leader Deere and bar who had been through the Battle of Britain June On a rodeo also called a circus gaggle of wings with North Weald and Horn- church wings coming back out of Franco at feet over Lo our squadron was jump- by about Wulfc We lost eight aircraft out of The CO came back with his No man and I came back with my No 2 who was Gardener at Iho time One pilot was picked up in the channel and two were taken pri soners The CO and I went out to try and find some after we had land ed We searched the channel but couldnt find any was out of ammunition Shortly after that on June 1012 Walker was awarded the But he did not attend the Kings investiture for this until The squadron went off op shortly because it was forced lo regroup because of losses In some of the heaviest fighting of the war took place In my estimation the pendulum started to swing then in favor of our air forces and we started to get in some measure air superi ority January July says Brad Spit Fives During he was flying Spitfire mark fives Sweeps were made by flying anywhere from 35000 feet to almost ground level Daylight bombing raids by the Allies were becoming much stronger during this period Here is an example of the heavy fighting in April the squadron was up twice each day on the and It is interesting to note the over age duration of each operation one hour and minute No doubt it seemed like much longer when pilots were engaged in dog fights In March the wing commander was lost and during that period two wing leaders were lost The squadron tost two com manders and three flight com manders Off Ops Brad Walker went off opera tions for the time being and start ed for home landing at New York on Sept Having com pleted his first tour he was due for a rest in Canada but the rest turned out to be something far different He was to lead the Canadian pilots in Kitty- hawks fighting against the Ja panese at and to operate In the worst flying weather in the world Part two of Fighter Pilots Log continues next week OBITUARY MRS FLORENCE JOHNSON Funeral service was held Mon day Dec 3 from Skinner and Middlebrook funeral home Port Credit for Mrs Florence John son wife of Merrill Johnson Mrs Johnson was the oldest daughter of the late and Matilda After their marriage in September Mr and Mrs Johnson farmed for years on the second con of King township near Aurora From there they moved to a farm near Brampton where they retired to live in Port Credit During this time Mrs Johnson made a great many friends in Brampton and Port Credit and was active member of Unt ied church there A devoted and loving wife and mother she to mourn her loss her husband and nine children Vera Mrs House Jean Mrs Robert son Allen John Esther Mrs Robert Cousins Alfred Paul Bill and Florence Mrs Garnet Island and grandchildren al so two sisters Mary Mrs Herb Robinson Newmarket Vera Mrs Harry Webster and one brother Stanley Pallbearers were five nephews Arnold Johnson Victor Johnson Bill Williams Grant Robinson John Barradcll and one brother- inlaw Norman Johnson Burial was in Brampton cemetery Dt Chases A When tired out little thats lb Dr Food The ViUmm tod Iron Dr Food work together to build Mncrd help you reined at able to forget jo trouble Dr Narva Food twit you have the re that to with good health Helps row fed In tor with Ufa erMrgetie ready lo enjoy your family your work you Mart ibe aoonev you may fori the tonic rf yon Da CHAtrt MEET THE LONGEST LOWEST METEOR IN HISTORY- EVERY LINE SAYS GO -tv- w V ENGINEERED FOR PERFECT BALANCE OF POWER BODY AND FRAME 1 1 2 4 New balancedride front suspension steps over bumps controls sway OWrPT HACK LIFTS HUMPS rrlighly new Meteor power balanced by allnew body and frame TO VB 1X AND New frame gives balanced riding platform cfrAtHeo within It APOID COMPORT New balancedride rear suspension minimises nose dive ftpnlNUU 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