Royal Air Force, 9th Squadron, Service no. 538024
Born: August 1918. Son of Albert Lilley and Mary Ann Crawshaw
Killed in action: 18th December 1939 over Heliogoland, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, aged 21
Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 2
Story
Walter was named after his father’s brother, who passed away aged 29 the year before Walter was born. Walter’s mother, Mary Ann passed away in 1923, when Walter was aged 5, and his father Albert re-married Clara Muriel Smart in 1927. Albert himself was a WW1 Veteran, and served as a Special Constable in WW2. He is pictured below in 1926. Clara’s brother was Albert Smart, a Kippax veteran prisoner of war from the First World War. The family lived at Helena Street, Kippax. Walter attended Kippax council school, and aged 12, he gained a County Minor Scholarship at Castleford Grammar School, and left there aged 16. He was also a keen cricketer. Like his brother Albert, who also served in the Second World War, Walter was formerly a member of the Kippax St John Ambulance Brigade. He joined the R.A.F. in 1937, where he won a miniature cup at football, and medals for jumping and hurdling. He visited Belgium with the RAF Exhibitionists in July 1939.
9th Squadron is the oldest dedicated Bomber Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Formed in December 1914, it saw service throughout the First World War, including at the Somme and Passchendaele. During the Second World War, the 9th Squadron specialised in heavy precision bombing against German targets. On 4 September 1939, the Squadron’s Wellington aircraft and crews were despatched to bomb German warships at Brunsbuttel. Two Wellingtons failed to return, and 11 crew members killed. This was the first operational sortie of the war. Therefore, Walter’s squadron were the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft, and the first to be shot down by one.
Walter had just returned from leave when, on 18th December 1939, he was in an aeroplane in a battle over Wilhelmshaven. 10 minutes after the battle began, Walter, who was the rear gunner, shot down a Messerschmitt 110. A constant stream of fighters kept diving on the tail of his aircraft in an attempt to shoot it down, but he kept them at bay. He shot down a second Messerschmitt 110, and had just shouted the news over the intercom, when he shot down a third, and then a fourth. His intercom system was then smashed, and his gun jammed. He could have gone forward to comparative safety, but instead strove to unjam his guns in his exposed position in the tail. He was riddled with bullets and died instantly. His best friend, 18 years-old Ronnie Driver, then took over the gun, and returned fire, however the gun was soon wrecked by return fire, and the bottom part of the turret was shot away, leaving Driver with his legs dangling through the bottom of the plane.
On an episode of the TV Series ‘Who do you think you are?’ in 2013, the actress Minnie Driver visited Brooklands Museum in Surrey to see a restored Wellington bomber from the battle (example below). She saw the book “Epics of the RAF” which also has a report of the battle. It said that her father Ronnie put out a fire on the plane with his gloved hand (pictured below with his mother). His best friend, rear gunner Walter Lilley of Kippax, died in the battle, aged 21. The plane ditched in the sea and Ronnie launched the dinghy and saved the rest of the crew. Minnie met Derek Alloway, who was then aged 93, and was the last surviving RAF veteran of the battle, and he told her about his memories of Ronnie. Derek said that Ronnie was shaken up and had mental health problems after the battle. He was treated in psychiatric hospitals several times for anxiety, particularly on the anniversary of his friend’s death.
In February 1942, Walter’s parents made a gift of a bronze and oak crucifix to Rev. Ellison which was hung near the pulpit of St. Mary’s Church in memory of Walter.
Kippax Roll of Honour 