Air Marshal Peter Brett Walker, (29 September 1949 – 6 September 2015) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

officer who served as

Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey The Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as the ''de facto'' head of state in Guernsey ...

from 2011 to 2015.

Early life

The son of a

(RAF) fighter pilot, Peter Brett Walker was born on 29 September 1949 in the Staffordshire village of Rowley Regis. He was initially educated at

Pocklington School Pocklington School is an independent school in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1514 by John Dolman. The school is situated in of land, on the outskirts of the small market town, from York and from Hull. I ...

, before joining

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

to read for a General Arts degree at

Hatfield College , motto_English = Either the first or with the first , scarf = , named_for = Thomas Hatfield , established = , senior_tutor = , master = Ann MacLarnon (2017–) , undergraduates = 1010 (2017/18) , postgrad ...

. As a student he played rugby for the University 4th XV alongside Richard Paniguian, who would go on to a long career with British Petroleum and latterly the British government.

RAF career

Walker joined the Royal Air Force as a flight cadet in 1968 while at university and in 1971 entered the Royal Air Force College Cranwell.Guernsey's next Lieutenant Governor is named
BBC News, 26 October 2010 Selected for training as a fighter-pilot, his first posting was at No. 29 Squadron, based at

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

. Here, piloting the

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and B ...

, he had regular encounters with Soviet aircraft approaching UK Air Defence. After three years of squadron service, Walker became an instructor on the Phantom operational conversion unit. This was followed by a posting to

RAF Germany The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part o ...

, where he was weapon's leader of No. 92 Squadron, one of two RAF squadrons responsible for the air policing of Western Germany. In 1985 he went to

RAF Leuchars Royal Air Force Leuchars or RAF Leuchars was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northern UK airspa ...

, where he took command of No. 111 Squadron, also known as the "Tremblers", and flew numerous sorties over the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

. In 1993 he went to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

to command RAF Mount Pleasant. He became Director of Operational Capability in 1999,Ministry of Defence and Tri-service Senior appointments
/ref> Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operations) in 2001, and Assistant Chief of Staff (Policy & Requirements) at

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

in 2002. He went on to be Commander of the

Joint Warfare Centre The Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) is a NATO establishment headquartered in Stavanger, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the ...

in Norway in 2005, and retired in 2007. In retirement he became

, appointed on 15 April 2011. Walker died in that role on 6 September 2015.

Reputation

Walker was described as a 'charismatic fighter pilot' by one former colleague and also said to have a highly aggressive style of flying. He was also known for his ability to mete out discipline, one former flier describing a 'monumental hats-on bollocking in his office' that he and five others received.

Personal

Walker was married to Lynda: they had two sons and a daughter. Before moving to Guernsey the couple lived in

North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and Lyn ...

, where they were mentioned in the diaries of socialist politician

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

Death

Walker died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

following a function at the Beau Sejour centre in Guernsey. An air display due to take place was dedicated to his memory, and the

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial team ...

made a special fly-past. His funeral was held in London on 22 September at

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Peter 1949 births 2015 deaths People educated at Pocklington School Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham Royal Air Force air marshals Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell British expatriates in Norway Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Rowley Regis Durham University RFC players