Christopher Walter Waitt

Christopher Walter Waitt was a British airman who served in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I and also in the Royal Air Force in World War II. In 1916 he was awarded the Military Medal. During WW2 he served as adjutant to No. 550 Squadron RAF, a squadron of heavy Lancaster bombers which participated in bombing raids over Germany and occupied Europe from 1943 to 1945.
Early life
Christopher Walter Waitt was born on 3 September 1895. He was the son of Walter Henry Waitt (c1861-c1898) and Florence Lavinia (Pratt) Waitt. His father died when he was very young, and his mother re-married, to a German named Erwin Nagel. . The RFC at that time was just two years old, having been formed in April 1912.
Waitt accompanied the RFC to France when war began in 1914 as a second class air mechanic. . In 1915 Waitt intercepted a wireless message from a German aeroplane, instructing German artillery to fire upon a certain wood, occupied by British troops. Waitt personally telephoned Corps HQ, thereby saving many lives. For this action Waitt was awarded the Military Medal, He was also in the Gazette on 28 March 1941, listed as a "flying officer on probation".
From January 1944 to 26 May 1945 Waitt served as squadron adjutant to , a heavy bomber squadron which flew Lancaster bombers. During the course of the war, 550 Squadron completed 3,582 operational sorties. Today, a surviving Lancaster bomber continues to fly in the markings of BQ-B "Phantom of the Ruhr" EE139 from 550 squadron as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. <ref name="official"/>

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