Hope you don't mind me posting a bit of history here. . .

[Phil Perry]

Jimmy Ward VC

 

 

NZ401793 Sergeant Pilot James Allen Ward

 

Like many I have been interested by the recent posts on artillery and ships armament. For some time I have become increasingly critical of the awards given to political figures and senior civil servants for apparently just doing the job they are paid to do.

 

At the same time we have seen awards given to people because they can apparently run slightly faster than the next person.

 

So in this attempt to recalibrate the current view on what merits an award I can do no better than give you the announcement and citation for Jimmy Ward VC

 

“The KING has been graciously pleased to confer the VICTORIA CROSS on the under mentioned non-commissioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery:

 

On the night of 7 July 1941, Sergeant Ward was second pilot of a Wellington bomber returning from an attack on Munster. While flying over the Zuider Zee at 13,000 feet his aircraft was attacked from beneath by a German ME110, which secured hits with cannon-shell and incendiary bullets. The rear gunner was wounded in the foot but delivered a burst of fire sending the enemy fighter down, apparently out of control. Fire then broke out in the Wellington's starboard engine and, fed by petrol from a split pipe, quickly gained an alarming hold and threatened to spread to the entire wing. The crew forced a hole in the fuselage and made strenuous efforts to reduce the fire with extinguishers, and even coffee from their flasks, without success. They were then warned to be ready to abandon the aircraft. As a last resort Sergeant Ward volunteered to make an attempt to smother the fire with an engine cover which happened to be in use as a cushion. At first he proposed discarding his parachute to reduce wind resistance, but was finally persuaded to take it. A rope from the aircraft dinghy was tied to him, though this was of little help and might have become a danger had he been blown off the aircraft.

 

With the help of his navigator he then climbed through the narrow astrodome and put on his parachute. The bomber was flying at a reduced speed but the wind pressure must have been sufficient to render the operation one of extreme difficulty. Breaking the fabric to make hand and foot holds where necessary and also taking advantage of existing holes in the fabric, Sergeant Ward succeeded in descending three feet to the wing and proceeding another three feet to a position behind the engine, despite the slipstream from the airscrew which nearly blew him off the wing. Lying in this precarious position he smothered the fire in the wing fabric and tried to push the engine cover into the hole in the wing and on the leaking pipe from which the fire came. As soon as he had removed his hand, however, a terrific wind blew the cover out and when he tried again it was lost. Tired as he was, he was able, with the navigator's assistance, to make a successful but perilous journey back into the aircraft. There was now no danger of fire spreading from the petrol pipe as there was no fabric left near it and in due course it burned itself out. When the aircraft was nearly home, some petrol which had collected in the wing blazed up furiously but died down quite suddenly. A safe landing was made despite the damage sustained to the aircraft. The flight home had been made possible by the gallantry of Sergeant Ward in extinguishing the fire on the wing in circumstances of the greatest difficulty and at the risk of his life.”

 

 

A more graphic account is detailed in “New Zealanders in the Air War”, by Alan W. Mitchell, in the chapter entitled ‘Sergeant Pilot James Allen Ward”.

 

He rejoined 75(NZ) Squadron following a period of leave as captain of his own crew.

 

James Ward was killed in action on 15 September 1941, when his Wellington bomber was hit by flak over Hamburg, caught fire and crashed. Only two of the crew of five survived. It was Ward's 11th sortie, and his 5th as crew captain. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery Ohlsdorf in Hamburg.

 

 

Vickers Wellington L7818 'AA-R', pictured on return from operations on 7 July 1941

 

While over the Zuider Zee, cannon shells from an attacking Messerschmitt Me 110 struck the starboard wing (A), causing a fire from a fractured fuel line which threatened to to spread to the whole wing. Efforts by the crew to douse the flames failed, and Sergeant Ward, the second pilot, climbed out onto the wing via the astro-hatch (B). With a dinghy-rope tied around his waist, he made hand and foot-holds in the fuselage and wings (1, 2 and 3) and moved out across the wing from where he was eventually able to extinguish the burning wing-fabric.

 

To give some statistics for 75(NZ) Squadron:

 

Flew the 2nd highest number of overall operations in Bomber Command

 

Flew the highest number of sorties in Bomber Command

 

5th highest number of bombing operations in Bomber Command

 

3rd highest number of mining sorties in Bomber Command

 

2nd highest number of aircraft operational losses in Bomber Command

 

The Operational Research Section-Bomber Command calculated that statistically there was little prospect of surviving a tour of 30 operations and by 1943, only one in six could expect to survive their first tour and one in forty would survive their second tour.

 

During the period of highest losses November 43 to March 44 Bomber Command considered making sorties over France only count as a third of an op towards the "tour".

 

To put it into perspective during WW2 there were 55,573 killed in action, a death rate of 44.4% with a further 8,403 wounded and 9,838 becoming POW’s.

 

In comparison, the chances of surviving on the Somme battlefield during WW1 were better than as Bomber Command aircrew in WW2.

 

( Hats off to my mate Hengist, who did the research for the above essay )

 

 

[turboplanner]

His story is featured in the air museum in Christchurch; a stunning effort.

 

I saw it a long time ago, can't remember whether it was just photos, or a part of the wing on display.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

His story is featured in the air museum in Christchurch; a stunning effort.I saw it a long time ago, can't remember whether it was just photos, or a part of the wing on display.

I just started a thread in 'Off Topic' suggesting any historical aviation related pictures and stories. . . .there must be a few,. I am ashamed to admit that, even though being a well read bloke,. . .I had never heard that particular story. Since My Maternal Uncle James died in a Wimpey on a leaflet raid over Norway in 1941, I have a bit of an interest in Wellington stories. . .

 

Thanks for the heads up on that museum anyway Turbo.

 

 

[old man emu]

Have you ever been to the Wellington Museum on Bourton Rd (A44) at Moreton-on-Marsh?

 

 

[Yenn]

Those who received the VC were wonderful men except for the officers. there may have been officers who merited the award of the VC, but the English awarded medals to officers on a completely different system. One English officer was awarded the VC for killing his own men who had refused to follow his orders to certain death.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Could you present the citation on that one Yenn?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Have you ever been to the Wellington Museum on Bourton Rd (A44) at Moreton-on-Marsh?

I know of it, Don't know if it is still there. I shall check. . . .

 

 

[old man emu]

I know of it, Don't know if it is still there. I shall check. . . .

According to Google street view, it is.

 

 

[old man emu]

About 8 miles west of Moreton-in-Marsh, towards Broadway is Broadway Tower, located on the second highest point of the Cotswolds. This plaque is near the tower