William Walker ( RAF officer ) Flight Lieutenant William Louis Buchanan Walker , AE ( 24 August 1913 - 21 October 2012 ) was , at the time of his death , the oldest surviving pilot from the Battle of Britain . His poem " Our Wall " about the Battle of Britain is inscribed on a special plinth aside the Christopher Foxley - Norris Memorial Wall of the Battle of Britain Memorial , Capel - le - Ferne , Kent . Early life . Walker was born on 24 August 1913 in Hampstead , London . He was educated at Brighton College , an independent school in Brighton , East Sussex . Following schooling , he followed his father into the brewing business . In 1931 , he began as a pupil brewer at a brewery in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire to learn the trade . In 1933 , he moved to Ind Coope brewery in Burton upon Trent , Staffordshire . Military service . Walker joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve on 2 September 1938 as an Airman u / t Pilot . He then under went pilot training at RAF Kidlington , Oxford , flying his first solo on 28 September . He was called up on 1 September 1939 , the day World War II broke out . He was posted to 1 Initial Training Wing , Cambridge on 15 November . On 17 February 1940 , he was posted to RAF Brize Norton , Oxfordshire to undergo officer training , where he joined 2 Flight Training School . On 18 June 1940 , he was commissioned as a pilot officer on probation . He was given the service number 82662 . He was immediately posted to No . 616 Squadron RAF , who were based at RAF Leconfield , East Yorkshire and flew the Supermarine Spitfire . It was with 616 Squadron that he would fight in the Battle of Britain . On 15 August , the squadron was scrambled to intercept a Luftwaffe attack on the North of England . During this engagement , he flew on the wing of his section leader . The result of the action was a success for his squadron , with six enemy bombers shot down . On 19 August , the squadron moved to London and was based at RAF Kenley . On the morning of 26 August , 616 Squadron was scrambled to intercept 40 German bombers . Over Dover and Dungeness , they were engaged by Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters as they climbed to attack the bombers . During this engagement , his plane was attacked by Werner Mölders , a leading German fighter ace . His Spitfire was hit from behind and the controls were shot away . With a bullet in his right ankle , he was forced to bail out of the plane at 20 , 000 ft . He landed in the English Channel and clung to a shipwreck on the Goodwin Sands . He was pulled from the water by a fishing boat , then transferred to an RAF Whaleback that brought him ashore at Ramsgate , Kent . As the local hospital was too damaged to treat his wounds , he was taken instead to the hospital at RAF Halton , Buckinghamshire . He would keep the armour - piercing bullet as a souvenir of his experience . After six months recovering , he was posted to an aircraft ferry unit which would deliver new aircraft from their factories to the operational units . His commission was confirmed on 18 June 1941 and he was promoted to the war substantive rank of flying officer . He later transferred to No . 116 Squadron RAF , an anti - aircraft unit . On 18 June 1942 , he was promoted to war substantive flight lieutenant . He was demobilised in September 1945 . As a member of The Few , he was awarded the 1939 – 45 Star with an additional Battle of Britain clasp . On 24 August 1958 , he was granted permission to retain the rank of flight lieutenant . Later life . After demobilisation , he returned to his pre - war career of brewing . He would go on to become the chairman of Ind Coope ' s brewery in Burton upon Trent , Staffordshire . Upon retirement , he turned to poetry . He was also a strong supporter of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust . He would attend the annual remembrance held at the Battle of Britain Memorial , Capel - le - Ferne , Kent . His poem ' Our Wall ' was inscribed on the monument alongside the names of The Few in July 2010 as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations . He was featured in the 2011 documentary " Battle of Great Britain " hosted Ewan and Colin McGregor on the BBC . He died on 21 October 2012 , having suffered a stroke three days earlier . Personal life . In August 1941 , Walker married Claudine Mawby , one of The Mawby Triplets . Together they had seven children , including Tim Walker a columnist for The Daily Telegraph . Two of the children pre - deceased their parents . They had legally separated but were not divorced before Claudine ' s death on 13 September 2012 .