Air Force Cross For F/O Westaway
December 1944 edition of "The Gander"
The whole station offers congratulations to F/O H. W. Westaway on his latest decoration – the Air Force Cross. According to KR (Kings Regulations, Air) this award is made “for exceptional valor or devotion to duty whilst flying though not in active operations against the enemy”.
Jimmy (figure out if you can, how that name comes from the initials H. W.) had more than one crack at the Hun in WWI. 1916 found him in the muddy trenches of France, but his heart was with the R.F.C boys who flew overhead. The following year his dreams came true and he was in the perilous skies over France and Germany. His was an artillery spotting job. His final sortie in that war came near being very final. His gunners got three Jerries before the ack-ack got him., and sent his plane spinning to the ground. In the explosion which followed, Jimmy was hurled forty feet. Someone in the infantry got the Military Medal fro dragging him back to safety, out of range of enemy guns.
In WWII, if we consider as enemies disease, accident ,and the gremlins that cause crashes, F/O Westaway is still facing the enemy. And there’s certainly no question about his exceptional valor and devotion to duty while doing it, either.
Ten years of flying with the R.A.F. in India and Mesopotamia in skirmishes with frontier tribes, and another decade with the Ontario Provincial Air Service, penetrating the wilds of the northern part of the province, have given Jimy ample preparation for the task he has carried on so well in Newfoundland.
He is O.C. of the Mercy Flight Division on the RCAF Station in Gander. That division is a small but mighty one. It consists of one Norseman plane and one pilot – non other than the O.C. himself. Every pilot on the Station will tell you that Jimmy hasn’t an equal and everyone has a warm spot in his heart for this jolly, broad-shouldered man with such a merry twinkle in his eyes – the fellow who can take off and land in weather when even the pigeons are walking.
The list of mercy flights, resulting in saving of life, is indeed a long one. There’s scarcely a bay along the North and East coast of this Island on which the Norseman hasn’t landed. The plane is equipped with two stretchers, and accommodates a doctor and a nurse. F/O Westaway is his own crew.
“No matter what the weather is when he takes off- or how long he is gone, we never worry. We know that Jimmy will return safe and sound,” says the C.O.
A hospital assistant who was fortunate enough to go along on one of the mercy flights tells how all the inhabitants of the little village turned out to meet them. After a brief pause for a cup of tea and a sample of warm Newfoundland hospitality, they made a speedy return to the hospital with a cancer stricken patient. “The people all over that part of the island just about worship F/O Westaway. Though the little villages along the coast all looked the same to us, our pilot knew just where to land. Our confidence was 100% plus”
Sometimes a boat voyage or ride behind dog-teams is required in order to supplement the plane ride. The length of their stop-over depends on how many of the “sick and maimed” from the surrounding countryside are brought to the docter when he is summoned for one particular patient.
There have been closely competed races with the Stork more than once. So far the Norseman has been the winner.
The particular feat that won the Air Force Cross for our hero was the rescue of two men who had crashed in a Harvard last September. Weather was closing in and the aircraft sent to the vicinity of the crash failed to spot the two victims. Seventeen minutes after his take-off from Gander Lake Jimmy had sighted them. He landed on a rocky lake, left the M.O. and two other men on the shore with First Aid and sleeping bags and took off again. Weather conditions were considerably worse by this time. Nearing Gander F/O Westaway called the Tower for landing instructions.
“ Norseman 789 – ceiling and visibility zero, zero. Hold you position above clouds. Stand by for further instructions. Over”
Instantly came back the reply. “Hell, I’m no bloody angel. I’m going to land.” And he landed.
The next day, clouds were hanging on the tree tops. Nothing could fly. Nothing but the Norseman. Jimmy went back to the little lake, picked up the men and rescue party- returned to base using a sixth sense he evidently possesses.
It is doubtful if the two men would have survived, if they had not been found when they were.
Forced landings in the desert, rescue work in Ontario would make a long story.
In 1929, when Jimmy was operating from Oba Lake. Ontario, a certain Vedette landed, and its pilot and mechanic cut up a gas drum belonging to Jimmy. He has been offered numerous other gas drums to replace it- but still maintains that the pilot owes him $8.
It was the C.O. who told this story-I’d be disobeying orders if the name of the Vedette pilot was revealed-but maybe you are good at guessing.
Jimmy Once lived near a golf course – which was very expensive site – because on warm days his friends used to come in after a round of golf and drink up all his beer.
F/O Westaway’s wife, son and daughter live in Simcoe, Ontario. His son is air-minded, too – is an enthusiastic Air Cadet.
“If I have enough money left for a ticket to South America, I’d like to go there after the war.,“ says Jimmy. So if in the post-war years we hear of someone untangling jungle vines from the propellers, and is taking off using an alligator as a runway, or landing safely on 100 square feet on a peak in the Andes, we’ll be ready to wager 50-1, that was Jimmy Westaway.
