A 106 Squadron Fairey Battle.
On 29th June 1939 this 106 Squadron aircraft was damaged during a force-landing near Thornaby airfield after the engine had failed in the air.
During the attempted landing it hit a hedge and the undercarriage collapsed badly damaging the aircraft. In the years that
followed the pilot became one of the great Bomber Command pilots and leaders of the Second World War.
Battle K7562 was built to contract 424738/35 by Fairley at Stockport and was delivered to 63 Squadron on 9th June 1937.
It was returned to Fairey's on 9th July 1938 for modifications and later issued to 88 Squadron on 29th September 1938 and
transferred to 106 Squadron on 8th October 1938. Following this incident near Thornaby on 29th June 1939 Cat.W/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge. It had clocked up 575.40 hours total flying time from new.
Pilot - P/O Peter Ward-Hunt RAF (39916).
Peter Ward-Hunt was the son of Captain Wilfred Ward-Hunt DSO RN, he was born on 6th December 1916 in Gibraltar and was
educated at the Imperial Service College, Windsor. He was appointed to a short-service commission to the rank of Acting
P/O on probation in the RAF on 5th July 1937. After completing his pilot training he joined 106 Squadron and flew the Battle before the
Squadron converted to Hampdens. He was confirmed in his appointment and graded as P/O on 10th May 1938 and was promoted to F/O on 10th December 1939.
He transferred to 49 Squadron by the end of 1939 and after completing a Tour with 49 Squadron he was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on
17th January 1941, no citation has been found. He rose to F/Lt (war subs) on 10th December 1941. After completing
this first Tour he served as an instructor before returning to operational flying with 207 Squadron flying the Manchester.
He rose to S/Ldr (temp) on 1st March 1942 and by May 1942 he was instructing aagain at a Heavy Conversion Unit but flew in the first Thousand Bomber raid with this training unit. In February 1943 he was posted back to 106 Squadron as a flight commander and at that time 106 Squadron was led by W/C Guy Gibson. By June 1943 Ward-Hunt had completed a total of fifty five bombing operations and was awarded the Bar to the DFC, Gazetted on 8th June 1943. The citation reads..
"Since the award of the DFC in January 1941, S/Ldr Ward-Hunt has completed a large number of operational sorties. He recently
participated in a number of successful bombing raids, including one on Berlin. In March 1943 he took part in raids on Essen, where,
undeterred by fierce opposition, he pressed home his attacks with resource and determination, obtaining a useful photograph on the
second occasion. He has also participated in successful mining sorties in the Baltic."
On promotion to W/C (temp) he took command of bombing operations from Ludford Magna and was Mentioned in Dispatches on 1st January 1946 just after
leaving the RAF in December 1945 and took a role in air traffic control, serving for many years at Heathrow. Peter Ward-Hunt died on 7th
December 2005, he was eighty nine years old.
