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

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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 Guern ...

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 Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It forms part of the area immediately west of Birmingham known as the Black Country and encompasses the fou ...

. He was initially educated at Pocklington School, before joining

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

to read for a General Arts degree at Hatfield College. As a student he played rugby for the University 4th XV alongside Richard Paniguian, who would go on to a long career with

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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 The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is resp ...

.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 h ...

. 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 that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bower ...

, 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, 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, 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, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. In 1993 he went to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, 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 from Cape Dub ...

to command

RAF Mount Pleasant RAF Mount Pleasant (also known as Mount Pleasant Airport, Mount Pleasant Complex or MPA) is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The airfield goes by the motto of "Defend the right" (while the m ...

. 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 is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinct from other object properties, such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material ...

in 2002. He went on to be Commander of the Joint Warfare Centre 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 Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

, 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 Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

Death

Walker died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

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

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 Military personnel from the West Midlands (county) 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Royal Air Force personnel of the Iraq War