James Allen Ward VC

 

The second action that led to a Norfolk Bomber Command VC took place just three days later on 7 July. The recipient this time was a quiet school teacher from New Zealand named James Allen Ward. Ward had volunteered in July 1940, finally reaching 75 Squadron at Feltwell as a pilot in June 1941 at the age of just 21.

 It was on Ward’s seventh operation that he worked his way to a VC. Ward was second pilot to squadron Leader R. Widdowson on a Wellington that was part of a force being sent to bomb Munster. The raid was carried out by 41 aircraft, ten of them from 75 Squadron and went largely without incident. The return trip took Widdowson over the Zuider Zee at a height of 13,000 feet. Suddenly he saw an ominous twin engined silhouette to his left. Recognising it as a Messerschmitt 110 nightfighter, Widdowson turned to starboard. It was a trap. Lurking beneath the Wellington was a second Me110 which now climbed up to rake the bomber from front to rear with a savage fusillade of cannon shells. The central area of the Wellington was riddled with holes, the hydraulics system punctured, the radio smashed and the starboard engine set on fire.

   The rear gunner, Sergeant Allen Box, was wounded in the foot. Box forgot his wound almost immediately as the Me110 climbed past him, exposing its own underbelly. Box pumped 200 rounds into the German aircraft, seeing it fall earthwards with smoke pouring from one engine. Box tried to report back to Widdowson, but the intercom had been destroyed in the attack. Box could see the flaming engine, but reasoned that so long as the aircraft was flying straight and level the rest of the crew had not bailed out. He too stayed at his post, scanning the skies for enemy planes although he had no idea what was going on in the rest of his own aircraft.

 In fact, Widdowson had decided to abandon the aircraft and ordered his crew to don their parachutes. Ward, however, had other ideas. He tore a hole in the fabric side of the Wellington and tried to put out the engine fire with an extinguisher. The foam was blown away before it could have any effect. Ward then turned to the navigator, Sergeant Lawton, and said “I think I’ll hop out to do this”. Widdowson refused to allow Ward to make the attempt, but agreed after Ward put on a parachute and tied the rope from the dinghy around his waist and got Lawton to hold the other end.

 Thus equipped, Ward removed the cover from the astrodome and crawled out through the hole. He used his flying boots to kick holes in the fabric, and so get a grip on the metal struts that made up the geodetic frame of the Wellington. Slowly he worked his way down the side of the fuselage on to the wing. The main fear was that the fire would set alight the fabric covering the wing. With this gone the wing would generate no lift and the Wellington would crash. Ward intended to stuff a heavy canvas engine cover into the fire and so douse the flames, or at least stop them reaching the vulnerable fabric.

 Ward slowly inched his way out along the wing until he was next to the flaming engine. Then he used his right arm to shove the canvas sheet into the hole and smother the flames. As soon as he let go, the slipstream tugged the cover free, so he pushed it back. He held it there for several minutes until his left arm could no longer stand the strain of supporting him against the slipstream. Ward let go again, and the canvas cover was whipped away. The fire was not out, but was now merely a wisp of flame. Hoping for the best Ward inched back towards the fuselage.

 It was only with a great deal of pulling from Lawton that the exhausted Ward managed to get back into the aircraft. Having reported back to Widdowson, Ward collapsed in a heap. Widdowson turned the aircraft out over the North Sea, heading for the emergency landing strip near Newmarket.

 The battered Wellington reached Newmarket just as dawn was breaking. With no brakes due to the smashed hydraulics system, the Wellington careered across the grass airfield and piled up into the boundary hedge. Only then did the rear gunner, Box, clamber out of his turret to ask his colleagues what had been going on. He was soon whisked off to hospital while the rest of the crew travelled back to Feltwell by lorry. Box was awarded a DFM for his coolness, while Widdowson was awarded a DFC. Ward, of course, was awarded a Victoria Cross.

 Sergeant Chappie Chapman, who shared a room with Ward at Feltwell, explains what happened after the epic flight.

“After Jimmy was awarded the VC he was taken off operations for three weeks so that he could go to Buckingham Palace to collect his medal.  After this we would go to the Sergeants’ mess at Feltwell and as soon as Jimmy walked in everyone would stand up and salute. Whenever this happened Jimmy would do a quick 180 degrees and walk out, he was very shy about the whole thing. But this meant that we were both living on sandwiches, so I had a word with the lads and they packed it in. At the end of the three weeks Jimmy became captain of his own aircraft; on his first trip as captain they had some trouble and landed away from Feltwell. On 15th September, when he was on his second trip, (Hamburg), he was shot down over the target and killed”.