Sharkey Ward

Commander Nigel David "Sharkey" MacCartan-Ward, (born 1943), born Nigel David Ward, is a retired British Royal Navy officer who introduced the Sea Harrier Fighter, Reconnaissance, Strike aircraft to service and commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron during the Falklands War.

He was known as Mr. Sea Harrier.

Nigel David Ward was born on 22 September 1943 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada where his RAF father was serving.

(He changed his surname by deed poll in the early 90s to MacCartan-Ward after his father’s death and in honor of the latter’s Irish ancestry.) He traveled to the UK in 1944 with his mother and elder brother - a five-week journey by sea, avoiding the U-boat threat.

He was stricken with bronchiectasis and hospitalized for a year at the age of 5, and only survived the disease by spending 3 years in the dry climate of Pakistan at RAF Mauripur, Karachi.

After a return to England, he was educated as a boarder at Reading School, Berkshire (1954-1962) where he became Head Boy and Captain of the 1st XV Rugby Team (and also a South of England Rugby Trialist.) He learned to fly with an RAF Flying Scholarship in 1959, earning his Private Pilot’s Licence in the Tiger Moth.

After basic flying training he completed his training with the Fleet Air Arm on the Hawker Hunter and Sea Vixen.

He then joined 892 Naval Air Squadron and flew the F-4K Phantom from the deck of HMS Ark Royal (R09), where he qualified as an Air Warfare Instructor and an Instrument Training Instructor.

He then worked as a nuclear planning officer at NATO Allied Forces Northern Europe.

In 1962, he entered Britannia Royal Naval College as a Naval Cadet on the General List.

In 1963-64, he served as a Midshipman in the Bahamas Patrol frigate, HMS Tartar before returning to the College as a Sub-Lieutenant.

He was put in charge of the Dartmouth Tiger Moth Flying Club and appointed Divisional Sub-Lieutenant of Exmouth Division.

On leaving Dartmouth, the Commander of the College, John Ford, commented that “Never has a Division been run so well from a horizontal position!”

In 1965-66, as a Lieutenant, he was appointed Navigator of the Hong Kong Guardships, HMS Penston and Woolaston.

During this period, he achieved his Bridge Watch Keeping and Ocean Navigation Certificates and qualified as a Ship’s Diver.

Sharkey’s military flying training began in 1966 and continued until 1969.

When passing out from Basic Flying Training, flying the Jet Provost at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, he won the Aerobatics Trophy and the Lord Mayor’s Sash for Best Student.

His Advanced and Tactical Flying Training took place at Royal Naval Air Station Brawdy in South Wales where he flew the Hunter fast jet aircraft.

His follow-on Operational Flying Training took place at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset where he flew the frontline fighter aircraft, the Sea Vixen Mk.2 and where he was awarded the Kelly Memorial Trophy and Admiral Sir Dudley Pound Prize for Best Operational Student.

He was then appointed to the Phantom Training Squadron, 767 NAS and to 892 frontline Phantom F-4K Squadron in continuation.

Sharkey carried out his first deck-landing in HMS Ark Royal IV on 14 June 1970.

He qualified as an All-Weather Fighter Pilot by Day and Night.

He then qualified as an Instrument Rating Instructor in 1971 and an Air Warfare Instructor in 1972.

From 1972 to 1974, he carried out a NATO Aviation Staff job as Nuclear Intelligence and Planning Officer at Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH), Oslo, Norway under the command of General Sir Peter Whitely, Royal Marines.

Whilst there, he drafted: the Mine Warfare Policy for AFNORTH; the Plans for the nuclear destruction of the Soviet Amphibious Fleet; and helped draft a new “Graduated Response” Nuclear Policy for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) to replace the existing “Tripwire” Policy, which was accepted.

On return to the UK, he was appointed as the Senior Pilot of 892 Squadron and strove successfully to enhance the night deck landing and air-to-air combat confidence and capability of all his 14 pilots (including himself).

In 1974 he returned to 892 Phantom Squadron on HMS Ark Royal as the Senior Pilot before becoming the Sea Harrier Desk Officer in the Ministry of Defence.

His 2nd embarked frontline tour ended in 1976 when he was appointed to serve in the Ministry of Defence as the Officer in charge of the Sea Harrier FRS Mk 1, the P3T Sea Eagle Sea-Skimming Missile and the AIM-120B AMRAAM Projects.

In 1979, he took command of the Sea Harrier FRS.1 Intensive Flying Trials Unit at 700 Naval Air Squadron.

Ward featured in an episode of Pebble Mill at One that year when he landed a Sea Harrier in a sports field next to the Pebble Mill Studios.

By 1979, the Sea Harrier was ready to enter service, on cost and on time.

He was then appointed to be the Commanding Officer of the Sea Harrier Intensive Flying Trials Unit, 700A Squadron, was ordered to write his own Terms of Reference and, with an excellent team of aviators and engineers, was relied upon entirely to prepare the aircraft and all its personnel for full operational readiness.

In 1980, he was appointed to Command the Headquarters Squadron, 899, in continuation and, in 1981, was given Command of 801 frontline Squadron based in HMS Invincible and was promoted to Commander (by which time he had become well known as “Mister Sea Harrier”).

During Operation Corporate, the Falklands War, he was Senior Sea Harrier advisor to the Command on all aspects of the fast jet air-to-air war.

From commanding 700A Trials Squadron through to 801 Squadron, Ward had prepared the Sea Harrier world well for action in the South Atlantic.

Two additional aircraft and pilots were borrowed from the conversion unit, 899 Naval Air Squadron, and with a strength of eight aircraft and eleven pilots they embarked in HMS Invincible on 3 April 1982.

Ward, flying Sea Harrier XZ451/006, was leading a division of three aircraft launched to carry out combat air patrol over the Falkland Sound, southwest of San Carlos Water.

Two Pucara ground-attack aircraft operating from Goose Green at low level were detected by the air defence controller in HMS Brilliant.

The three Sea Harriers were in the climb en route Invincible when they were vectored towards the Pucaras.

One of the Pucaras was attacked from abeam by the two Sea Harriers flown by Steve Thomas and Alisdair Craig but evaded being hit.