Flt. Lt. Francis Joseph Walter
Creators: name: Project Team, Their Finest Hour
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 430304
subject: British history
classificationCode: 430308
subject: European history (excl. British, classical Greek and Roman)
classificationCode: 430316
subject: International history

description: The contributor brought objects related to the participant's stepfather, Francis Joseph Walter, who his mother (Marie Brown) married in 1956. He was born in Vienna. He was Czechoslovakian but joined the British army.The photograph shows him during active service. The certificate promoting him to RAF officer is 'signed' by the King, although the contributor suspects it is a stamp.The contributor describes him as a 'self publicist'; whereas all documents about his birth father were collated by his mother, his stepfather collected photos and news clippings about himself. The contributor remembers more stories of his step-father's time at war as he was old enough to properly discuss it by the time his mother remarried.The contributor also brought the following biography of Walter:Frank Walter was a little bit different to the normal RAF instructor in many ways, for a start he wasn't (initially) British but, after joining the RAF, decided he liked England so much he should stay!Franz Joseph Walter was born in Modling, near Vienna, in Austria on 28th May 1909. His father Franz Walter was a Major in the Austro-Hungarian army, born in August 1854. His much younger mother was born in August 1889. Major Walter was a wealthy industrialist, owning a gas and chemical works and had published a major work on Chemical Technology.Franz Joseph was educated initially in Ettal Monastery in Bavaria. To get there he was put on a train (aged about 8!) in Vienna but got off 10KM before Ettal. Not wanting to upset his parents, Frank walked the last miles carrying his suitcase. The school is still in existence today, educating about 400 children - the same as in Franz' day.When he was about 12 he was sent to England to complete his education. After a brief spell at a junior school he moved to Stowe School (1925 to 1928) where he was a contemporary of David Niven. At Stowe he joined various societies including the fencing team, which he captained and where he was successful in epee, foils and sabre.In 1928 Frank went up to Christchurch, Oxford, to study Jurisprudence where again, he captained the fencing team, winning various medals and cups, one of them against Cambridge. He was also drummer in a five piece band. Having been born in Austria he, naturally, joined and captained the Oxford ski team.In 1932 he left Oxford and worked in the travel business using his fluency in Spanish, French and German to good effect until he joined the RAF. He signed his naturalisation papers, becoming Francis Joseph Walter, in November 1932. Interestingly his application for naturalisation listed his original nationality as Czechoslovak presumably because, when he was born, the Austro-Hungarian empire was still in existence or possibly because of growing anti-Austrian feeling in England.In 1936 he was a member of the British Olympic ski team and came a respectable 50th in Langlauf (cross-country) in the 1936 (Hitler) Olympics.Frank received an Emergency commission as Pilot Officer on probation for Admin and Special duties on 31/05/1940, moving to 616 Squadron. He was promoted to Acting Flying Officer on 4/09/1940. Frank became Adjutant and worked with Douglas Bader, Johnnie Johnson, etc. during the Battle of Britain (July 1940 - September 1940). During his time with 616 he "persuaded" the likes of (then) Pilot Officer J E Johnson, Sqd Leader H F Burton, Pilot Officer Hodkinson, DFC and Bar, Flt. Lt (Cocky) Dundas and Jeff Quill (who later tested most of the production Spifires from Longbridge) to give him air experience flights in any aircraft that was available. They all showed him the ropes, doing circuits and bumps, loops, rolls and spins. Sqd. Leader Burton signed most of it off as unofficial dual instruction, but when Frank was posted from 616 to Elementary Flying Training, he wrote "all bullshit"!Frank was posted to 50Grp pool EFT in Dec 1941 and qualified in June 1942. Instructor training completed, he then flew mainly with 2 and 3 EFTS at Worcester until May 1945. For a year he worked at the Empire Flying School as Flying Instructor, Research Flight, due to his consistent rating over the years as Above Average and Exceptional for his flying ability.Frank's last day in service was 24th June 1947 but he joined the RAFVR, from which he was finally discharged in November 1956. However Frank then moved across into civil instruction at the Midland Aero Club and Wolverhampton Aero Cub. He finally gave up flying in 1963 with 4000 hr and 10 minutes recorded in his logbook. Whilst still flying Frank got a job at Metal Castings in Droitwich Road and in sight of Perdiswell. Leaving there, he moved on rapidly to become European Sales manager for the Austin Motor Co at Longbridge, again using his language skills. Frank eventually became Sales Manager at W L Cotton Itd. in the Foregate, Worcester. Whilst there he was awarded his Masters Degree in Jurisprudence, probably the only Car Sales Manager to be so qualified in the whole of the UK! Frank never lost his love of skiing, carrying on to an advanced age, winning cups and awards up until 1990.Frank passed away 26th Nov 2009, aged 93.