The younger Beales joined the Royal Flying Corps as a despatch rider in December 1914 and earned the 1914–1915 Star.
[1] He scored his first aerial victory on 21 March 1918, destroying a German Pfalz D.III while piloted by William Lewis Wells.
On 9 May, in a ten-minute dogfight, Beales and Napier drove down two Fokker Dr.I triplanes and a Pfalz D.III; in turn, they were brought down, probably by Germans from Jasta 46, but survived.
[1] A Walter Beales was the licensee of the Victoria Arms public house in North Creake, Norfolk from 1922 to 1937.
[3] In World War II, he would accept a commission in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and command a gliding school.