Rae Walton MC hand signed 10 x 8 black and white photograph

Each photo measures 10" by 8" with a white border on all sides with the signature handsigned on the specially elongated bottom margin. Squadron Leader Walton has signed underneath himself with his aircraft behind (I think it is a Bristol Blenheim IV of No 53 Squadron)

Limited edition certified and numbered on reverse.

Squadron Leader Rae Walton MC AFC TD

On 28 May 1942 No 120 Squadron Liberator Mk 1 AM924 took off from Stornoway to conduct an ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) sweep off the north coast of Norway. Towards the end of the sortie the aircraft was intercepted by three Me 109 fighters, one of which was shot down, however the Liberator was very badly damaged and forced to ditched into the sea. Two of the crew were lost during the attack and ditching, but the five remaining crew members boarded the two emergency dinghies carried aboard the aircraft. After two days adrift John Culnane, the navigator, died from cold and exhaustion. The four surviving crew members transferred in to one dinghy and, placing Culnane in the other, cut the line thus separating the two dinghies. The survivors eventually made landfall in the Lofoten Islands, Norway tired and starving. After evading a German soldier they escaped into the mountains. Some four or five weeks later and after considerable help from Norwegians they crossed the mountains and reached the safety in Sweden.

Culnane's dinghy was washed ashore on 2 June 1942 and was buried by the German authorities. His body was subsequently moved and re-interred in a cemetery in Narvik. In recognition of their actions Walton and Corkran were both awarded the Military Cross, Booker the Military Medal and Pickering the Distinguished Flying Medal

Crew Details of Liberator AM 924:
Flying Officer Rae Walton - Pilot
Pilot Officer Terry Corkan - Co-pilot
Flight Sergeant John Culnane - Navigator +
Flight Sergeant Edward Allgood - Wireless Operator/Air Gunner +
Sergeant Ernest Booker - Flight Engineer
Sergeant Pickering - Air Gunner
Sergeant Smith - Air Gunner +

At the outbreak of war Walton was a member of the Territorial Army and in April 1940 he was seconded to the Royal Air Force and completed his flying training as a pilot. His first posting was to No 53 Squadron equipped with Hudsons carrying out anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols off the coast of France. His second tour of operations was with No 120 Squadron equipped with Liberators and during this time attacked one U-boat.

During 1944 he flew Liberators and Yorks with No 511 Squadron, based at RAF Lyneham. In 1945 he served with No 232 Squadron based in Delhi, India supporting the army in Burma and operating afar afield as Australia. He flew many politician and senior service personnel to the international conferences at Casablanca, Algiers and Terehan and for several months he was Lord Louis Mountbatten's personal pilot while he was Supreme Commander of South East Asia.

He was demobilised after the war and was found to be suffering from TB and spent nearly two years in hospital. After recovering he returned to studying law, and having passed his exams went into general practice and later became a District Judge.

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