Oldest Battle of Britain pilot dies at 99

Oldest Battle of Britain pilot dies at 99

Credit: Getty Images

FAIRFORD, ENGLAND - JULY 06: Visitors brave the inclement weather to view a replica Spitfire aircraft on display at the Royal International Air Tattoo on July 6, 2012 in Fairford, England. The Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford gets underway tomorrow and is the world's largest military airshow with over 250 aircraft from many countries across the world. The air show supports the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust and is staffed by many volunteers. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

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Associated Press

Posted on October 23, 2012 at 5:31 AM

Updated Tuesday, Oct 23 at 7:06 AM

LONDON (AP) — William Walker, whose poem is part of a national monument to his comrades in the Battle of Britain, has died at age 99.

The Battle of Britain Trust said Walker died Sunday at home in London.

Walker, a Spitfire fighter pilot, was shot down and took a bullet in his right ankle on August 26, 1940, as British pilots engaged a German bomber force.

His poem "Our Wall" is inscribed on the memorial on the Dover cliffs to the nearly 3,000 men who flew in the battle from June to October 1940

After retiring as chairman of the Ind Coope brewery, Walker wrote poetry including tributes to the fliers hailed by Winston Churchill: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

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