Gazette Information: VICTORIA CROSS,: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35238/pages/4515. Sergeant James Allen Ward, Royal New Zealand Air Force, serving with 75 Squadron, Royal Air Force. On 7th July 1941 after an attack on Munster, Germany, fire broke out in the Wellington bomber in which Sergeant Ward was second pilot. The skipper of the aircraft having told him to try to put out the fire, the sergeant crawled out through a narrow astro-hatch, scrambled to the back of the starboard engine which was alight, and smothered the flames with an engine cover. His crawl back over the wing in which he had previously torn hand and foot-holes, was more dangerous than the outward journey, but he managed it with the help of the aircraft's navigator. The bomber was eventually landed safely.
Fold3_Team · Oct 30, 2023
Gazette Information: VICTORIA CROSS,: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35238/pages/4515. Sergeant James Allen Ward, Royal New Zealand Air Force, serving with 75 Squadron, Royal Air Force. On 7th July 1941 after an attack on Munster, Germany, fire broke out in the Wellington bomber in which Sergeant Ward was second pilot. The skipper of the aircraft having told him to try to put out the fire, the sergeant crawled out through a narrow astro-hatch, scrambled to the back of the starboard engine which was alight, and smothered the flames with an engine cover. His crawl back over the wing in which he had previously torn hand and foot-holes, was more dangerous than the outward journey, but he managed it with the help of the aircraft's navigator. The bomber was eventually landed safely.