Arnold Walker ( RAF officer ) Arnold Edgar " Blondie " Walker DFC & Bar 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 . Early life . Born in Warley Edge , Halifax , West Yorkshire , the son of a stonemason and builder , and youngest of three children , Walker ( always known as ' Blondie ' ) was educated at Heath Grammar School but left school early , aged 15 , to join his father ' s building firm ; he did however continue to study three nights a week at technical college for the national building exam . However , at the ago of 18 his father died , leaving Blondie in charge . At the outbreak of war , construction was deemed a reserved occupation , but he was " mad keen on flying " and immediately volunteered for the Royal Air Force . RAF career . 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 . In August 1942 , Walker joined No . 94 Squadron , which soon received four Hawker Hurricane s 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 . 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 . 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 . Postwar career . Walker returned to Halifax to re - establish the family building company , Joseph Walker & Son , which had been shut down during the war . He wrote a short memoir of his wartime experiences with the dedication : " To my two ground crew – without your fabulous service of my aircraft I would not be alive today " . Immediately after the war , Joseph Walker & Son built more than 2 , 000 council houses and 1 , 000 private houses . He continued to build houses in the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire for the next half century . He also had building interests in Perth , Western Australia , where he would later move to . He was a Liberal councillor for Warley Ward in Halifax during the early 1950s and was elected president of the Halifax Building Trades Council . Personal life . 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 . 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 . In later life , Walker lived nine months of the year in Perth , spending the remainder in his hometown of Halifax , West Yorkshire .