Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The rare ‘airships’ 1919 A.F.M. and 1921 Second Award Bar to Flight Sergeant S. J. Heath, Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force, an experienced hand who was instrumental in the test flights of both R.36 and R.38, and who was killed in the latter, 24 August 1921, when she ‘had flown over Hull and was cruising at around 1,000 feet over the Humber when she suddenly buckled, went into a slow nose dive and then broke into three pieces, spilling men, parts and debris into the river. The horrified crowd watched as the ship was racked by two explosions that shattered windows all over the city. The R.38’s hydrogen and petrol bloomed into flame and the burning remains settled on the Humber, where the spilled fuel generated a barrage of flames. The last wireless message received from the R.38 was terse: “Ship broken, falling.’ Of the 51 men aboard the R.38 only five survived.’

Air Force Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (R.N. 201503 Sergt. Mech. Heath. S. J., R.A.F.) with original horizontal striped riband, good very fine £5,000-£7,000

A.F.M. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

A.F.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 4 June 1921, jointly recommended with Sergeant Major II. R. Mayes, D.S.M., A.F.M.:

‘These N.C.O.’s have shown courage and devotion to duty whilst flying on the 5th April, 1921; while R.36 was flying in the vicinity of Bath, the top and starboard planes collapsed, the elevator and rudder being dislodged from their pintle bearings with the result that the ship became out of control.

The bottom rudder and port elevator became ineffective owing to the top rudder and starboard elevator having fallen over.

S.M. Mayes and F/Sgt Heath proceeded on top of the ship and secured the top rudder and starboard elevator in as neutral a position as possible.

They carried out this duty at a considerable risk to themselves, as it was impossible to work with life lines, and the wreckage of the top and starboard planes was blowing about to such an extent that it was with difficulty that this W.O. and N.C.O. were able to maintain their positions.

As a result of their work the remaining control became operative and it was possible for the ship to regain her base at slow speed.

But for the gallantry and devotion to duty of this W.O. and N.C.O., the ship might have been wrecked.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 October 1917.

Sidney James Heath was born in Lambeth, London, in January 1883. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class in October 1898, and advanced to Leading Seaman in July 1905. Heath transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve in January 1913, and his service during the Great War included as a Petty Officer 1st Class in armed merchant cruiser Celtic, January 1915 - January 1916.

Heath transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service as a Petty Officer Mechanic in 1916, and served at a number of airship stations including East Fortune, White City, Barrow and Howden between June 1916 - March 1918. He was employed on airship duties, and involved in the tests surrounding the design and construction of the airship R.36 between April - November 1918. At the end of the latter month, having already transferred to the Royal Air Force, Heath transferred to work in a similar capacity for R.38. His subsequent award of the A.F.M. was most probably a reflection of his work on R.36 and R.38.

Having been reclassified as Sergeant Rigger (Airships) in January 1919, Heath subsequently served at Pulham and Howden. He was remustered as Flight Sergeant Rigger (Airships) in August 1919, and was serving in duties relating to R.36 again in Spring 1921. R.36 was launched for her maiden flight on 1 April 1921 from the Beardmore works at Inchinnan near Glasgow. Amongst her crew was Heath and Sergeant Major II R. Mayes, the latter being of recent R.34 fame.

The following day, ‘the new airship R.36 arrived at Pulham at 5.52 pm and was safely moored after being walked across the field to the mast by the ground handling party. Besides her crew she carried several distinguished passengers, including the Director of Research at the Air Ministry, Air Commodore Robert Brooke-Popham. The captain for this flight was Flight Lieutenant A. H. Wann....

The new craft was 675 feet long and had a maximum diameter amidships of 78 1/2 feet... The modified construction also gave the R.36 a maximum loaded altitude of 17,000 feet.... A distinguishing feature of the R.36 was the long control car and cabin, some 131 feet in length, directly attached to the underside of the hull. The ship was fitted with mast mooring gear. The crew comprised four officers, two coxswains, two wireless operators, seven riggers and thirteen mechanics and there was accommodation for fifty passengers....

The fact that passenger accommodation had been incorporated in the design while the ship was under construction made the R.36 the first true British civil airship.... Three days after the R.36/G-FAAF had arrived at Pulham she set out on an extensive cross-country flight. While she was flying at 6,000 feet in turbulent conditions in the Bristol area the upper vertical fin and starboard horizontal stabiliser failed and buckled due to the pounding they were given by gusty winds. As a result, the R.36’s bow dropped and the ship dived down to 3,000 feet. Immediate reaction by the captain, Major Scott, restored equilibrium; he ordered the crew to move aft to bring more weight into that area, shut down the engines to slow the ship down, and dropped water ballast from the forward tanks. This returned the ship to horizontal trim, and then it was decided that as all appeared to be correct they would proceed very, very slowly back to Pulham. The ship managed to gain altitude and was flying at 4,300 feet.

Before they set course for home, two of the riggers [Heath and Mayes] cambered out on the crumpled tail plane and secured the threshing torn fabric and twisted metal framework so that it would not foul the remaining operative rudder and elevator. It was a heroic act on the part of the two crewmen, who had to make foot and handholds in the tail surfaces and locate the metal structure beneath the taut fabric in order to get out to the damaged part to secure it. At the same time they would not know if the structure beneath them was still capable of carrying their weight and that it would not at any moment fold and hurl them into space. Of course they had lines holding them to the ship, but it was little consolation to know that if you fell you would be dangling beneath the ship with only a fifty-fifty chance of being pulled back to safety.

For the remainder of the flight horizontal trim was maintained by the crew moving along the keel in the hull as directed in order to bring weight to bear where it was required at the time. Arriving back over Pulham after dark, the R.36 was gently lowered to the ground where it was safely taken over by the ground handling crews, who held it in preparation for shedding.

The R.38 disaster

Heath was awarded the Bar to his A.F.M. for his gallant conduct aboard R.36, and given his experience was an ideal candidate for the next big cross-Atlantic project - the R.38. Constructed at the Royal Airship Works at Cardington, the R.38 made her maiden flight in June 1921, when defects were found in her framework. As a result further test flights were undertaken in the lead-up to her proposed journey to New Jersey, where she was to be handed over to the Americans and renamed ZR. 2. And it was in the course of one of these tests that she blew up over the River Humber at 5.40 p.m. on 21 August 1921 - a trawler 16 miles away staggered under the concussion of the explosion and trains on railway lines in Lincolnshire shook on their tracks, while ceilings in houses in Hull and Grimsby collapsed.

On a ‘fine evening on Wednesday, 24.8.1921, thousands of people in Hull flocked to the banks of the Humber to watch the stately progress of Britain’s newest airship, the R.38.... Manned by a crew of British and American airmen and a dozen or so engineers and observers, the R.38 had completed two days of trials and was heading for the airship base at Howden, where she was to overnight before returning to Pulham in Norfolk. The airship had flown over Hull and was cruising at around 1,000 feet over the Humber when she suddenly buckled, went into a slow nose dive and then broke into three pieces, spilling men, parts and debris into the river. The horrified crowd watched as the ship was racked by two explosions that shattered windows all over the city. The R.38’s hydrogen and petrol bloomed into flame and the burning remains settled on the Humber, where the spilled fuel generated a barrage of flames. The last wireless message received from the R.38 was terse: “Ship broken, falling.’ Of the 51 men aboard the R.38 only five survived.’ (Flight of the Titan, The Story of the R.34, by G. Rosie, refers)

Flight Sergeant Heath was amongst the dead, and the roll of honour included 16 members of the U.S.N’s Rigid Airship Detachment and many highly experienced British airship personnel, not least Air Commodore E. M. Maitland, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.F.C., and Flight Lieutenants Little, Montagu, Pritchard and Thomas, in addition to Constructor Commander Campbell of Royal Airship Works.

British Gallantry Awards by Abbott and Tamplin records only 9 Second Award Bars to the A.F.M. being awarded between 1918-1979.