1941 WWII RARE NEW ZEALAND V. C. Winner JAMES WARD, 75 Sqdn Autograph lot + relic
1941 WWII RARE NEW ZEALAND V. Winner JAMES WARD, 75 Squadron, Autograph lot + relic from his crashed Wellington bomber.
A very Rare and probably unique collection, An Autograph book that belonged to a Phylis Edwards aged 11 in 1928. We presume she must have been a WAAF and have been connected with 75 New Zealand Squadron stationed at RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, On the Second page of the book, James Ward has signed it with his Squadron details and dates it 7th Aug 41, (he was killed in action only 5 weeks later) with a newspaper cutting regarding his Victoria Cross award.
The first page is signed by Sgt William Mason his Wireless operator & Sergeant A. Box his Rear Turret gunner part of the crew on the night of the 7th July 1941. The book continues with other 75 squadron members,, some I have identified, Sgt Macdonald who crashed at Horning but survived, Baldy Aitchison who was Killed 15th Sept on ops over Hamburg with Johhny Foulkes, and with James Ward V. Their Pilot, many others as you can see in the pictures, a fine sketch of a Wellington Bomber dated 2. 41, Their are a few pages with family sketches from earlier on in the 1920's, Have only illustrated those relating to RAF. The Society produced a detailed account of the story of both James Wards heroic attempt in climbing out on to the wing of his Wellington bomber L7818 in flight trying to extinguish the fire on the wing, his courage which is well documented on this event, won him the Victoria Cross. The booklet then covers the loss of the crew involved in the mid air collision on the 8.4.1942 in the same aircraft L7818 with the Spitfire R.6686, with an eye witness account of the incident, the crash site, details also of the spitfire pilot P. James Robert Lee from Comanche, Texas, and a copy of the Operations Record Book of the Day from No 15 O. Harwell with crash report details.
A Fascinating lot and should really be in The Auckland War Museum with James Wards Medals or the RNZAF Base at Ohakea. FROM OUR PRIVATE MUSEUM COLLECTION of 106 & 617 Squadron. Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution.