Bomber Operational Training Unit RAF, in Scotland. Upon completion of his courses at RAF Lossiemouth in mid-1941, Ward was posted to No. 75 Squadron. According to Hugh Kimpton, a fellow New Zealander at Lossiemouth, only one place was available at the squadron at the time. Ward was selected as a result of winning a coin toss between Kimpton and him. Service with No. 75 Squadron No. 75 Squadron was an RAF unit formed around a core of RNZAF flying personnel present in England prior to the outbreak of the Second World War to take delivery of 30 Vickers Wellington bombers purchased by the New Zealand government. These personnel had set up a unit at RAF Marham, in Norfolk, to prepare for the transportation of the Wellingtons back to New Zealand. However, once hostilities commenced, with the permission of the New Zealand government, the fliers were transferred to the Royal Air Force. Shortly afterwards, it was arranged for the RNZAF personnel to form the cadre of 75 Squadron, the first Commonwealth squadron of Bomber Command. At the time of Ward's arrival at 75 Squadron, it was based at the Royal Air Force's base at Feltwell in Norfolk, and operating Wellington bombers. His first operational flight was made on 14 June, as a second pilot to Squadron Leader Reuben Widdowson, a Canadian, on a bombing mission to Düsseldorf in Germany. Over the next few weeks, he flew six more bombing missions accompanying Widdowson. Widdowson and Ward flew their sixth and last mission together on 7 July during a raid on Münster. While returning home over the Zuider Zee on the Dutch coast, Ward's Wellington was attacked by a German Bf 110 night fighter. A fuel tank in the starboard wing was ruptured, causing a fire around the rear of the starboard engine. After initial attempts to put out the flames using fire extinguishers directed through a hole made in the fuselage failed, Widdowson ordered the crew to bail out. However, Ward proposed that he climb out and try and smother the fire using an engine cover. He crawled out through the astrodome on the top of the fuselage, secured by a rope. Making his way down the side and along the wing of the aircraft, he kicked or tore holes in the fuselage's covering fabric with a fire axe to give himself hand-and foot-holes. He soon reached the engine and attempted to