Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Arabian Peninsula (S. Lt. J. G. Wood. R.N.) good very fine £340-£380

John George Wood joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman on 9 December 1957 and was promoted Sub-Lieutenant on 9 April 1959. Posted as an Executive Pilot with the Fleet Air Arm to the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Centaur, he was on one occasion forced to eject from his Sea Hawk over the South China Sea:
‘Within an hour of ejecting from his Sea Hawk over the South China Sea recently, a Fleet Air Arm pilot, Sub-Lieutenant J. G. Wood, was safe and dry aboard U.S.S. Lexington. He had ejected following a collision between his own aircraft and another Sea Hawk of No. 801 Squadron. When Sub-Lieutenant Wood left his machine, having found it uncontrollable, his parachute was seen by Skyraiders of Lexington and rescue operations were initiated. The other Sea Hawk, though damaged, was able to return to H.M.S. Centaur; and Wood was picked up by an U.S.N. helicopter. Before being transferred by line from Lexington to H.M.S. Caprice for return to Centaur, after suitable refreshment and medical check-up (he had only minor bruises and abraisons), Sub-Lieutenant Wood was presented with various mementoes of his unscheduled visit to the U.S. Navy, including a bright orange flight suit, “So we can see you better next time!”’ (Article in Flight magazine, dated 30 October 1959, refers).

Wood was promoted Lieutenant on 9 May 1961, and retired in 1966.

Sold together with copied research including details of some of the sorties he flew, and a photographic image of the recipient.