Walter Beaumont

On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Beaumont was called up for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and commenced further training.^[2] By this time, he was married, to Doris Gosling, and had a son.^[1] Initially serving as a sergeant pilot, he was commissioned as a pilot officer on 10 December.^[3] A few days later he was posted to No. 152 Squadron.^[2] This was a newly formed fighter squadron based at Acklington which initially operated Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters but at the time of Beaumont's arrival was beginning to convert to the Supermarine Spitfire fighter. The squadron became operational in January 1940 and was tasked with patrolling the coastline and protecting shipping convoys.^[4]

In July, with the Battle of Britain now underway, No. 152 Squadron was sent to Warmwell, in No. 10 Group's sector, to join in Fighter Command's efforts to intercept incoming Luftwaffe raids over the English Channel.^[4][5] On 8 August Beaumont's Spitfire was damaged in an engagement with Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters that were escorting a group of Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers attacking a convoy as it passed the Isle of Wight. He had to put his stricken aircraft down at Langton Matravers.^[6]

Beaumont made his first claims on 12 August, for two Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers that were damaged over St Catherine's Point. Four days later, flying to the east of the Isle of Wight, he shot down two Bf 109s.^[7] In the afternoon of 18 August, what is now known as The Hardest Day, No. 152 Squadron was scrambled to patrol over Portsmouth in response to the detection of a large Luftwaffe bombing raid.^[8] It was then directed eastward of the Isle of Wight, and Beaumont caught and destroyed a pair of Ju 87s that had just attacked Thorney Island, as well as sharing in the shooting down of a Bf 109.^[7][9]

On 22 August, Beaumont shot down a Ju 88 to the north of Barnstaple. This was followed three days later with the shooting down of a Bf 109 to the west of Portland. He shared in the destruction of a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber several miles to the southwest of Portland on 27 August, but in a subsequent engagement the same day, this time with a Ju 88, his Spitfire was damaged by return gunfire. Unharmed, Beaumont baled out and was rescued while his aircraft ditched in the English Channel.^[7]

Beaumont failed to return from a sortie on 23 September and was presumed to have been killed, with his Spitfire going down into the English Channel. He was posthumously recognised for his successes in the fighting along England's southern coast with an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation, which noted that he had been reported missing, was published in The London Gazette and read:

This officer has displayed great skill and determination in air combat against the enemy and has destroyed six of their aircraft.

With no known grave, Beaumont is commemorated on the Runneymeade Memorial at Englefield Green.^[11] His brother Ronald, also a fighter pilot in the RAF, was killed in action in 1942 during the Western Desert campaign.^[1]

Beaumont is credited with having shot down eight aircraft, two of which being shared with other pilots, as well as damaging two others.^[7] In 1999, a memorial plaque honouring him was presented to Calder High School in Mytholmroyd, the educational successor to Hebden Bridge Grammar School which he had attended as a child. He is also the namesake for Beaumont House at Churchill School in Harare, Zimbabwe.^[2]

• Cull, Brian (2017). Battle for the Channel: The First Month of the Battle of Britain, 10 July – 10 August 1940. Stroud: Fonthill. ISBN 978-1-78155-625-2.
• Price, Alfred (1988) [1979]. Battle of Britain: The Hardest Day, 18 August. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-831-1.
• Rawlings, John (1976). Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: MacDonald & James. ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
• Shores, Christopher; Williams, Clive (1994). Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-8-9869-7000.
• Wynn, Kenneth G. (2015). Men of the Battle of Britain: A Biographical Directory of the Few. Barnsley: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-39901-465-6.