Sgt Derek Wilson Halton

Although an old thread, Sgt Halton now features in “Finding The Few” (Grub Street) and the myth of his supposed crash at Seal, near Sevenoaks, is dealt with and dispened with in one of the chapters.

I thought forum members might be interested in this lovely and somewhat poignantly haunting shot of Derrick with his wife Peggy not long before he was killed, sent to me by Peter Halton for use in the book.

sgt derrick wilson halton

Hi Tangmere 40,

Many, many thanks for your interesting reply to my query. The book title indeed rang a bell immediately and failing to find a copy for sale I would love to read it again. It is nice of you to offer to lend it to me and you can rest assured it would be well looked after. Ray Holmes wrote to me before he died and confirmed to me that “Wee Halty” as he was known was indeed my uncle and so you can guess how thrilled I was.
Any further information you may have would be very welcome… I am not sure what part of the country you live in but we could perhaps continue to exchange information via this medium or possibly meet.
My personal e-mail is [email]halton007@hotmail.co.uk[/email].
I live near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire.
My telephone no is 01455-823853.
Again many thanks for replying to my query.
Peter Halton

Sgt Halton

to Tangmere 40

Thanks for your message. It seems a lot of research has been done over the years for many different reasons. My own interest is that I needed closure to the story of my uncles death… viz his final resting place.
It seems from what you say that if Deal was in fact correct it leaves two possibilities. 1. That the plane found in Deal[reportedly] with no body was not in fact Uncle Derricks. or 2. That the news report in the Northampton newspaper was correct and he is in fact “lost” at sea off Deal somewhere.
If this is correct then we may never know the answer except to take the advice of his old comrade Ray Holmes and raise a glass to him and all his fellows for the job they did for us.
Any more info from anyone however would be more than welcome.
Ray Holmes, who died recently wrote a book in which he spoke of his time in Sealand with Derrick. I do not remember what it was called and have had no luck finding a copy. If there is one anywhere I would love to know so that I could purchase or even borrow.

Peter Halton

Peter

Good to read your message! I would be very pleased to communicate further with you and to explain in more detail the background to my research of many years ago.

If you could send me a Private Message through the facility on this forum I will give you my e-mail address and telephone number(s).

Ray Holmes’ book is “Sky Spy”. I have a copy if you wish to borrow it.

sgt derrick Wilson

Hi Lion Rock,

Thanks for your reply and message re, road naming at Kenley airfield

It would be good to know if such a thing happened and indeed who the builders were.
I will try and make some enquiries elsewhere but if anybody else reading this message has any such knowledge perhaps thay would post it

Peter Halton

sgt derrick wilson

to Tangmere 40

Thanks for your message. It seems a lot of research has been done over the years for many different reasons. My own interest is that I needed closure to the story of my uncles death… viz his final resting place.
It seems from what you say that if Deal was in fact correct it leaves two possibilities. 1. That the plane found in Deal[reportedly] with no body was not in fact Uncle Derricks. or 2. That the news report in the Northampton newspaper was correct and he is in fact “lost” at sea off Deal somewhere.
If this is correct then we may never know the answer except to take the advice of his old comrade Ray Holmes and raise a glass to him and all his fellows for the job they did for us.
Any more info from anyone however would be more than welcome.
Ray Holmes, who died recently wrote a book in which he spoke of his time in Sealand with Derrick. I do not remember what it was called and have had no luck finding a copy. If there is one anywhere I would love to know so that I could purchase or even borrow.

Peter Halton

Try writing to the CWGC asking if they have any additional information, that held on the database is simply a template filled in from the info that they hold.

Sgt Derek Wison Walton

Peter

Great to hear from you. My interest stemmed from the fact that they have built houses on part of the old RAF Kenley site and the Building Co were wanting to name the various avenues etc after PIlots who served there and who died whilst operating from there.The house building company wanted to contact relatives to invite them to the naming ceremony,annot recall the name of the Comapny but I am sure local enquiries will assist I believe it was there commercial director who was behind the scheme

Peter

I hope you manage to get back to the forum and to this thread! Would be good to hear from you.

From what I can see there is no hard evidence to substantiate the crash location as Seal. If you look at the general location of the combat in which Derrick was lost I do wonder whether Seal should in fact read Deal? This could make more sense of the fact that he is still missing, as a geographical positioning at Deal may make it likely that he and his aircraft fell in the sea.

At this stage, just a theory.

Peter

Interesting to read your post!

Way back in 1978/9 I was involved in following up leads that indicated a Hurricane or Spitfire had crashed in fields to the North of Stonepitts House. No other details regarding date or fate of the pilot were available. However, a tenuous connection was later made with the supposed loss of Sgt Halton but no evidence ever came to light to support this. In the end, I think we concluded that the crash was probably that involving the loss of Sgt Hammerton in November 1940. Indeed, I think there must be a “?” over the supposed Seal location for the position of poor Derrick’s loss. I need to dig out my files and re-acquaint myself with what the primary source for Seal actually was. If memory serves correctly, I believe there is a possibility that Seal was a typographical error.

Perhaps you’d like to send me a private message. Would be interesting to communicate with you!

sgt derrick wilson halton

Lion,

I have only just seen your request and hope you still check website.
I am Derricks nephew and have any information you may require.
I am interested to know why you are researching Derrick.

Please contact me for the information if you still need it.

I await your reply

PETER WILLIAM HALTON

Thanks guy’s.

Much appreciate your advice and suggestions, I assume this will reveal his home address and details

Thanks again

You could try on some of these geneology sites.

This one was found in a quick search but you will have to sign up to gain more information.
Westmorland in Yorkshire from what the site below has stated.
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsfn=Sgt+Derek+Wilson+Halton+&gsln=halton&gspl=3257%2cU.K.+&gl=allgs&prox=1&ti=0&submit.x=41&submit.y=10&o_xid=0040711459&o_lid=0040711459

Good hunting.

BP.

Derrick Halton

hello Ross

Nothing wrong with Seal – it is to the right of Sevenoaks – and is about 20 miles from Kenley (less by air of course!!) 🙂 So definitely worth checking the parish records for the area. One for Geoff to check and clarify perhaps?

cheers

Allan

Ok,

You need to put on your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker and sleuth the following.

The death would have been registered in the local parish containing Kenley or Seal (this may be a miss-print for Sea).

If you search the Local Coronor reports for 15th August (give a few days after as well as 7 and 14 days later) you should get the detail for the Certificate of Death.

You also know that he was 21 when he was killed. Contact the GRO (General Registry Office) at Liverpool and search for his birth certificate using the Year of Birth as 40-21 or 22.

The RAFVR pre-war recruited locally and carried out training locally. Flying training at Sealand suggests Liverpool/North Wales etc as where he was working in 1939.

Regards
Ross

Sgt Derek Wilson Halton

Thanks Ross, as I said very little on him compared to many others, would like to know if there is any way of finding his home town hoping some people with good detecting skills could help

Hi,

Nothing about his home town but for background info.

The entry from Men of the Battle of Britain by Kenneth G Wynn reads:

Derrick Wilson Halton 748212

Halton joined the RAFVR about May 1940 (sic, should be 1939) as an Airman U/T Pilot. Called up on September 1, he completed his training at 5 FTS, Sealand and was with 615 Sqn at Kenley in early July 1940.

Halton was shot down in combat on August 15 and reported “Missing”. His Hurricane P2801, crashed and burned out at Seal.

He was 21 and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 14.

Regards
Ross