Garforth

Like Kippax, there were many stories about the War effort at home in Garforth and the War-time service of its villagers. Indeed the stories of Garforth and Kippax frequently intertwined. Of particular interest is George Augustus Walker (24/08/1912 – 11/12/1986), Air Chief Marshal, GCB CBE DSO DFC AFC MA, Legion d’ Honneur, and Croix de Guerre. He spent his childhood at 27 Lidgett Lane, Garforth, before leaving for Cambridge University and a life in the Royal Air Force. Just before the outbreak of war Walker twice played rugby for England at Twickenham and he also played for Yorkshire. He was a keen golfer, a hobby he shared with his father, whom he helped build a nine-hole golf course in Garforth in 1936/37.

At the outbreak of war, Walker was a Squadron Leader but was soon promoted to Wing Commander and took command of 50 Squadron at Lindholme, South Yorkshire. He took part in the bombing of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenhau in July 1941 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross. He was then promoted to Group Captain and took command RAF North Luffenham in Rutland.

Accidents in 1937 and 1942 twice came close to claiming his life. In the first he crashed an overloaded plane into an aerial mast, flipping it over and smashing his face so badly his nose had to be rebuilt with bone from his hip. In 1942, Walker and Wing Commander Guy Gibson were watching loaded bombers taxiing when a bomb fell from a Lancaster Bomber. As Walker ran over to warn the crew to get out, a massive 4,000lb bomb exploded, destroying the plane and throwing him 200 yards, a chunk of metal taking off his right arm at the elbow. He picked himself up and walked to the ambulance and then asked Guy Gibson to find his arm and retrieve the new glove. Asking Gibson to ring his boss to ask if he would take on a one-armed station commander in two months’ time, he returned to action exactly two months later. Aged only 30, he became an Air Commodore and continued to fly, using an artificial arm with leather loops that wrapped around the control column.

In 1954 he became Commandant of the RAF’s flying college at Manby in Lincolnshire (above), and in 1964 Air Marshal Sir Augustus Walker became the Inspector General of the RAF and finally Air Chief Marshal in 1967 when he accepted the NATO appointment of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces in Europe. He received further honours in 1969 (reported below):

He made his last log entry on 1970 when he retired aged 57. In retirement he took up a wide range of interests including the formation of the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York, being one of its first patrons.

He died in 1986, aged 74. The prestigious Blue Plaque is at his childhood home in Garforth to mark his contribution to the war effort and the many bombing raids he survived, including attacking the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenhau in Brest harbour.

The plaque reads: “Air Chief Marshal Sir Augustus Walker was born in Garforth and brought up in this house. Serving in the RAF he rose to its highest ranks. An inspirational figure, he led daring raids with 50 Sqn on industrial targets in Germany and commanded a series of bomber stations during World War Two.”