The George Medal

The George Medal

  Reading the previous evocative thread about the George Cross the other day got me to thinking about its peacetime equivalent the George Medal.

 The medal is not solely intended for strictly peacetime events but also includes wartime ones where the bravery did not actually involve a face to face involvement with the enemy.

 It reminded me of some of the wonderful people that I have met during some 45 years of public service, either in the Police or as a Councillor.

 In 1976 I was the rural Police Sergeant based at Wincanton Somerset.  I had a very large patch then and amongst a small number of military bases it also encompassed Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.

 During my time there I had the pleasure to meet Lt Alan Tarver GM.  A typical young naval officer. Tarver was bright, polite, and obviously very good at his job of flying the then front line Naval Carrier fighter the De Haviland SEA VIXEN.  The Navy had by then been flying the FAW2 variant of the heavy twin engined  aircraft that had started life as the DH110, and had tragically crashed at the Farnborough air display killing its crew and over 25 members of the public.

 In May of 1966 Alan Tarver was flying the  earlier FAW1 version of the Sea Vixen on what had become to be known as the Beira patrol.  He was accompanied by his observer and friend Lt John Stutchberry.  Rhodesia had just declared UDI and separated from the United Kingdom as part of a bid for independence.  As a result she had been blockaded by the Royal Navy as part of the sanctions imposed by the UK.

 That morning Tarver and Stutchberry were flying over the Mozambique Channel Tarver became aware of a very loud “Clunk” behind him, and one of his two engines rapidly wound down to a stop. Worse still a glance at his fuel gauges showed a rapidly deteriorating fuel contents situation.  It was obvious that they had a major fuel leak somewhere!

 Tarver turned toward his ship and called for the urgent attention of a Buccaneer fuel tanker which was supplied very quickly.  Sadly now due to a rapidly deteriorating aircraft stability problem, it became impossible for the transfer of any fuel to the stricken aircraft.   Realising that they would  not now have sufficient fuel to effect a landing on deck, Tarver got as close to their ship as he was able and instructed Stutchberry to bail out using his ejector seat.

 At that moment the second engine stopped and they began heading down.  Stutchberry had not ejected, and Tarver again called to his friend to go, but was informed that the sequence had failed and that Stuchberry had become stuck in his seat.  Tarver promptly inverted the aircraft hoping that a combination of severe buffeting and gravity would do the trick, but to no avail.  3 times more Tarver tried to dislodge his friend and three times the plan failed. By now Tarver was clearly disobeying an order from his ship to eject himself.

 Within a very short time the aircraft smashed into the surface of the sea and disintegrated in the splash. There was no sign of any parachutes and all watching assumed that both men had perished in the crash.  Then Tarver was spotted in the floating wreckage.  He had left his ejection to the very moment they hit the water.

 For his bravery and airmanship that day Lt Alan Tarver was awarded the George Medal.  Well deserved!

TF