Geoffrey Walton was born 19th April 1922 to William Edgar and Mabel Victoria Walton, his father had been borough treasurer in Stafford but had later moved to the Parkstone area of Poole, Dorset. Geoffrey had worked for Lloyds Bank prior to enlisting into the RAFVR. After initial pilot training he was posted to 19 OTU at Kinloss for training to try bomber aircraft, the aircraft commonly used at Kinloss was the out-dated Whitley and here he crewed up with the navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator, mid upper gunner and rear gunner of what should have become the main part of his regular bomber crew. These six would have crewed up with the flight engineer Sgt O'Sullivan at 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit. Whitley aircraft did not have a mid turret for the second gunner to have fixed position, the two gunners took turns in occupying the rear turret.
This photograph shows the original Walton crew, taken at 19 OTU before they were joined by the flight engineer. Left to right - Bob May, Willie Wilson, Bruce Perry, Bill Falconer, Geoff Walton and in front is Derek Lanning holding the cat Chunky! Their positions were as follows..
Pilot - Geoff Walton.
Geoff Walton was twenty two years old when he died as a result of the accident at Felixkirk, he was buried at Castlechurch Churchyard, Staffordshire.
Flight Engineer - Richard O'Sullivan.
Navigator - Bruce Perry.
Bomb Aimer - Bill Falconer.
Wireless Operator - Willie Wilson.
Mid Upper Gunner - Derek Lanning.
Rear Gunner - Bob May.
I thank Mr Derek Lanning for contacting me initially in 2010 and then in December 2011 for kindly supplying much of what is displayed above.