Kristian Ward RN - Obituary

Please add any Naval Obituaries in this section
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9736
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Kristian Ward RN - Obituary

Unread post by Pelican »

Kristian Ward obituary
Harrier pilot who followed a famous father, and flew 160 missions over Afghanistan
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/regi ... z-28M62tLM
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: Kristian Ward RN - Obituary

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

The full announcement:

Lieutenant-Commander Kristian Ward, who has died suddenly aged 45, was said to be in his natural element with a jump-jet “strapped to his back” and challenged David Cameron over his decision to scrap the Harrier force.

On the evening of December 2 2007, towards the end of a sortie over Afghanistan in a ground attack Harrier of 800 Naval Air Squadron, Ward was called in to support a team of US Army rangers pinned down by more than 70 Taliban fighters.

The rangers had suffered one serious casualty and their radio operator had been wounded. Though low on fuel Ward, at great risk to himself, descended to low level and, with no weapons left, made several noisy low-level passes while he called up another Harrier. This interrupted the Taliban assault and allowed the second Harrier time to deliver a 1000lb air-burst bomb right on target.

Some days later, two huge US rangers entered the Harrier operations room at Camp Bastion, having travelled a considerable distance to get there. One picked up Ward in a bear hug and told him: “You saved our lives, Dude!”

Kristian Nigel Ward was born in Oslo where his father, Commander “Sharkey” Ward, who would became a fighter ace in the 1982 Falklands War, was serving. Kristian was educated at King’s School, Bruton, before reading Oceanography and Mathematics at Southampton University.

In 1995 he joined the RAF, believing his father’s advice that he would have a greater chance of becoming a fighter pilot there than in the Royal Navy. However, after basic flying training there was a lengthy wait for advanced flying training with the RAF, and, impatient to progress, he marked time in 899 Naval Air Squadron where he clocked up 50 hours in the two-seater Harrier trainer. As a result, when the RAF arbitrarily restreamed Ward’s entire intake to helicopter flying, he transferred to the Royal Navy.

After formal fixed-wing flying training in the Tucano and the Hawk, and operational flying training in the Sea Harrier, he joined 801 NAS, which his father had commanded in the Falklands War, flying the Harrier FA2 fighter, in 2001.

He rapidly advanced, retraining on the Harrier GR7 ground-attack variant, qualifying as a weapons instructor in 2005, teaching other Harrier pilots (2005-07), becoming senior pilot of Navy Strike Wing 2009-10, and deploying four times with the Royal Navy to Afghanistan.

Ward and his Fleet Air Arm colleagues were shattered by the outcome of the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010 when, apparently as a result of interservice rivalry, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the Harriers were withdrawn from service and the RAF’s less capable Tornadoes were retained.

Seizing the opportunity when Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Permanent Joint Forces Headquarters at Northwood, Ward asked: “I am a Harrier pilot and I have flown 160 missions in Afghanistan, and I am now potentially facing unemployment. How am I supposed to feel about that, please, sir?” Cameron’s response was ill-informed, and the decision led to Ward leaving the Navy in 2012.

Ward quickly became a senior captain and Newcastle pilot base manager in the low-cost scheduled airline, Jet2, and flew Boeing 737s from 2012.

Ward consistently radiated a sunny disposition which, along with an irrepressible sense of fun and mischief allied to a deep sense of duty, made him an inspirational figure. One of his flying instructors said that Ward was “born to fly and was truly in his natural element with a Harrier jet strapped to his back. He wasn’t just a ‘chip off the old block’ but earned the utmost respect of his peers in his own right.”

In 1998 Ward married Sarah Carlisle. She survives him with their son and daughter.
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Naval Obituaries”