James Francis Edwards
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| Hans-James Francis Edwards | |
|---|---|
| 5 June 1921 | |
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| Place of birth | Nokomis, Canada |
| Allegiance |  Canada |
| Service/branch | Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Years of service | 1938–1945 |
| Rank | Wing Commander |
| Battles/wars | World War II *European Theatre *North African Campaign |
| Awards | Member of the Order of Canada Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar Distinguished Flying Medal Mention in Despatches Canadian Forces Decoration |
James Francis "Stocky" Edwards CM, DFC & Bar, DFM, CD (born June 5, 1921 - ) was a Canadian fighter pilot during World War II. Edwards is Canada's highest scoring ace in the Western Desert Campaign.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Edwards grew up in Battleford, Saskatchewan. After graduating from St Thomas College in 1940 he volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
[edit] War Time
Flight Sergeant Edwards was posted to 94 Squadron RAF of 223 Wing in January 1942 flying the P-40 "Kittyhawk" and on March 23 flew his first operational trip, during which he shot down his first enemy aircraft, a Bf-109. In May he was posted to 260 Squadron, and saw intensive action for the rest of 1942. By September he had 6 kills and was commissioned. A Distinguished Flying Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross were awarded by the start of 1943, by which time Edwards was a Flight Commander. His tour finished in May 1943, total claims made being 13 (some say 14+1 shared ?) aircraft shot down and several ground kills. One of Edward's victim during the North African campaign was famous Luftwaffe experten Otto Schulz, 51 kills, who was shot down by the Canadian ace on June 17, 1942.
In November 1943 he was posted to 417 Squadron RCAF, then 92 Squadron RAF, flying the Supermarine Spitfire VIII; while serving on the Italian front with 92 Squadron, he added 3 FW-190 and a Bf 109 to his score, all of them shot down over the Anzio beachhead, three of them on a single day. At the start of March 1944 he was posted to the UK, flying operations over Europe with 274 Squadron, a fighter unit equipped, at the end of Edward's tour, with the Hawker Tempest.
After leave in Canada, Edwards returned to the Western Front, flying Spitfire XVI's as 127 RCAF Wing CO in 1945. On May 3, he shared in the destruction of a Ju-88, just a few days before VE. He finished the war with a total of 373 operational sorties, during which no enemy pilot ever succeeded in shooting him down.
According to some prestigious sources (Shores & Williams's Aces High), his final wartime score was 15 + 3 shared destroyed, with 9 more destroyed on the ground, but these numbers are not entirely compatible with those reported above. Other sources (Brown & Lavigne's Canadian Wing Commander) credit him with 19 kills, 2 shared, 6.5 probable, 17 damaged and 12 destroyed on the ground, numbers that appear more accurate; during an interview, Edwards himsef specified that he had 19 confirmed kills during the war (The transcript of this interview can be found on the site of Veterans Affairs Canada). Of course, it is a very well known and documented fact that Allied pilots had a tendency, due to the confusion of rapidly changing combat situations in the air, to overestimate their performance against the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica, reporting two to three times more aerial victories than really achieved. But James Edwards, apparently, was not preoccupied with numbers and personal glory. Many who flew with him have said that he only reported those kills he was certain of and that his real number of aerial victories was probably much higher than officially reported. Nevertheless, since numbers are so important these days in estimating the value of an ace, it is of interest to mention that 18 of Edward's 19 kills, according to Brown and Lavigne, were recorded against enemy fighters (14 Bf-109, 3 FW-190 and one Macchi 202).
In 1983 he and Michel Lavigne published a book about his wartime experiences entitled Kittyhawk pilot: Wing commander J.F. (Stocky) Edwards.
[edit] Decorations and Medals
- Distinguished Flying Medal
- Distinguished Flying Cross (UK) and Bar
- Mentioned in Dispatches
- Canadian Forces Decoration and Two Clasps
- Member of Order of Canada
[edit] References
- Ralph, Wayne (2005). Aces, warriors and wingman: the firsthand accounts of Canada's fighter pilots in the Second World War. John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.. ISBN 0-470-83590-7.
