A group of four airmen visited the Parklands Hotel in Lincoln some time in the early summer of 1941, after completing their training and before joining 50 Squadron. This photograph of three of the group was probably taken by the fourth, Sgt Walter “Wally” Layne. L-R: The landlady’s daughter, Stuart Hobson, “Woof” Welford, Johnnie Tytherleigh (with pipe), Betty Cargill, the landlady of the “The Parklands”, and Wally Layne’s then fiancée Joan Maunders. Wally and Joan were later married, and their son David Layne provided the picture.

All four of the four airmen present on this day completed their tours with 50 Squadron. Layne moved on to 97 Squadron, where he was shot down on 23 September 1943, captured and taken prisoner. He survived the war.
Tytherleigh went to 617 Squadron and was lost on the Dams Raid. He was the front gunner in Henry Maudslay’s crew in AJ-Z.
Welford went to training units and then on to 57 Squadron. He later served in India before finishing the war working in air sea rescue on Walruses.
Hobson was killed on 5 April 1943 when serving with 9 Squadron. His aircraft was a Lancaster III, ED696 coded WS-T and took off from Waddington to bomb Kiel. It was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2350 at Grossenaspe, 10 km south of Neumunster where the crew were buried on 8 April.

David Layne has an excellent website with which covers his father’s service in the RAF, including his time as a prisoner of war. Well worth a visit.