GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY
Before they set course for home, two of the riggers [Heath and Mayes] cambered out on the crumpled tail plane and secured the threshing torn fabric and twisted metal framework so that it would not foul the remaining operative rudder and elevator. It was a heroic act on the part of the two crewmen, who had to make foot and handholds in the tail surfaces and locate the metal structure beneath the taut fabric in order to get out to the damaged part to secure it. At the same time they would not know if the structure beneath them was still capable of carrying their weight and that it would not at any moment fold and hurl them into space. Of course they had lines holding them to the ship, but it was little consolation to know that if you fell you would be dangling beneath the ship with only a fifty- fifty chance of being pulled back to safety.
For the remainder of the flight horizontal trim was maintained by the crew moving along the keel in the hull as directed in order to bring weight to bear where it was required at the time. Arriving back over Pulham after dark, the R.36 was gently lowered to the ground where it was safely taken over by the ground handling crews, who held it in preparation for shedding.
The R.38 disaster
Heath was awarded the Bar to his A.F.M. for his gallant conduct aboard R.36, and given his experience was an ideal candidate for the next big cross-Atlantic project - the R.38. Constructed at the Royal Airship Works at Cardington, the R.38 made her maiden flight in June 1921, when defects were found in her framework. As a result further test flights were undertaken in the lead-up to her proposed journey to New Jersey, where she was to be handed over to the Americans and renamed ZR. 2. And it was in the course of one of these tests that she blew up over the River Humber at 5.40 p.m. on 21 August 1921 - a trawler 16 miles away staggered under the concussion of the explosion and trains on railway lines in Lincolnshire shook on their tracks, while ceilings in houses in Hull and Grimsby collapsed.
On a ‘fine evening on Wednesday, 24.8.1921, thousands of people in Hull flocked to the banks of the Humber to watch the stately progress of Britain’s newest airship, the R.38.... Manned by a crew of British and American airmen and a dozen or so engineers and observers, the R.38 had completed two days of trials and was heading for the airship base at Howden, where she was to overnight before returning to Pulham in Norfolk. The airship had flown over Hull and was cruising at around 1,000 feet over the Humber when she suddenly buckled, went into a slow nose dive and then broke into three pieces, spilling men, parts and debris into the river. The horrified crowd watched as the ship was racked by two explosions that shattered windows all over the city. The R.38’s hydrogen and petrol bloomed into flame and the burning remains settled on the Humber, where the spilled fuel generated a barrage of flames. The last wireless message received from the R.38 was terse: “Ship broken, falling.’ Of the 51 men aboard the R.38 only five survived.’ (Flight of the Titan, The Story of the R.34, by G. Rosie, refers)
Flight Sergeant Heath was amongst the dead, and the roll of honour included 16 members of the U.S.N’s Rigid Airship Detachment and many highly experienced British airship personnel, not least Air Commodore E. M. Maitland, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.F.C., and Flight Lieutenants Little, Montagu, Pritchard and Thomas, in addition to Constructor Commander Campbell of Royal Airship Works.
British Gallantry Awards by Abbott and Tamplin records only 9 Second Award Bars to the A.F.M. being awarded between 1918-1979.
72
A ‘1961’ A.F.M. group of three awarded to Flight Lieutenant, late Master Navigator, G. W. E. Foster, Royal Air Force, who was killed during a flying accident in a Canberra, over Lyme Bay, Dorset, 1 May 1970
AIR FORCEMEDAL, E.II.R. (3051193 F. Sgt. G. W. E. Foster. R.A.F.); GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Near East (3051193 F. Sgt. G. W. E. Foster. R.A.F.); ROYAL AIR FORCE L.S. & G.C., E.II.R, 2nd issue (Fg. Off. G. W. E. Foster. R.A.F.) light contact marks overall, very fine (3)
£1800-2200 A.F.M. London Gazette 10 June 1961.
George William Edward Foster was born in March 1926, and served with the Royal Air Force, advancing to Master Navigator in February 1962. He was posted to the Officer Cadet Training Unit at Jurby in April the same year, and subsequently advanced to Flight Lieutenant (received two Commendations for Valuable Service in the Air, London Gazette 2 January 1956 and 1 January 1969).
Foster was the Observer in an A&AEE English Electric Canberra TT18, WJ632 at Boscombe Down, 1 May 1970. The pilot, Major J. R. Weaver USAF, lost control of the aircraft at 4,000ft during an asymmetric assessment exercise. Weaver used the incorrect recovery technique and the aircraft spun into Lyme Bay 3½ miles SE of Bridport, Dorset. Both Foster and Weaver were killed, whilst the Navigator Flight Lieutenant J. F. Nicol survived.
Flight Lieutenant Foster is buried in City Road Cemetery, Sheffield.
www.dnw.co.uk
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