Walden D A - The OldWinburnians

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D. A. Walden

Full Names

Rank /Unit  

Years at Q.E.G.S.

Donovan Alfred Walden

Sergeant
59 Squadron, Royal Air Force

 
 

Date  / Place of Birth

Date  / Place of Death

Age at Death

1917
Unknown

Sunday 1st December 1940  
Thorney Island

23

Pre-war Occupation:  Accountant.


Don was the son of Bertram Alfred & Winifred Bessie Walden of "Ingleside", Poole Lane, Kinson, Bournemouth.   
He was a day boy at W.G.S in the late 1920s & early 1930s (Kinson was within the school catchment area until The County Review Order 1930). In the July 1933 Oxford School Cerificate Examination, Don gained an exemption from London Matriculation. He played for the Old Boys Cricket Xl, against the School, on 21st July 1939 and scored 20 runs. A year earlier, he had passed the final examination of The Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors.
It seems likely that he joined the Air Force at some time prior to the outbreak of the war, since, by the summer of 1939 he was already a Leading Aircraftman and possibly u/t aircrew. A year later he was in 59 Sqdn, which had been a Fighter Command unit but, in July 1940 it was transferred to Thorney Island and into Coastal Command. By then, it was equipped with Blenheim Mk IV aircraft, the range and duration of which, made it useful in an anti-invasion role.
On his final trip, Sgt. Walden was the
Sergeant Observer of N3537, a Blenheim Mk IV aircraft, who's target was on the French Coast. The aircraft suffered severe battle damage and hit trees on overshoot upon return to Thorney Island.  Sgt. Walden died in the crash and the Wireless Op.  Air Gunner [ W/Ag ]  Sgt. Jones, was slightly injured.  Their pilot P/O Hinman, died later of his injuries.
Sgt. Walden is interred in the churchyard of St. Andrews Church, Kinson.

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