Not bad Rip, but how about this guy:
James Ward was born at Wanganui, New Zealand, on 14 June 1919. At the age of 21 he enlisted in the RNZAF on 2 July 1940 and left for Britain in January 1941. Following training at an Operational Training Unit he was posted to 75 (NZ) Squadron, RAF, where he served as a second pilot in Wellington bombers
He won his Victoria Cross for an extraordinary act of bravery during the return flight from a bombing mission in 1941. The citation for the award reads as follows:"On the night of 7 July 1941, Sergeant Ward was second Pilot of a Wellington bomber of 75 (NZ) Squadron 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 ME 110, 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 hint, 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 astro-hatch 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 feet holes where necessary, Sergeant Ward succeeded in descending three feet to the wing and preceding another three feet to a position behind the engine, despite the slipstream from the airscrew which nearly blew him of the wing
Lying in this precarious position he smothered the fire in the wing and on the leaking pipe from which the fire came. As soon as he had removed his hand, however, the terrific wind blew the cover off 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. The safe landing was made despite the damage sustained by 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." (London Gazette, 5 August 1941)
Sergeant Ward continued to fly on operational sorties but on the night of 15 September 1941 he was killed during a bombing raid over Germany. He is buried in the Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany.
