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.
Early life
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.
Military career
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 , 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 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. 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.
Royal Navy Career - as a Seaman Career Officer
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.
Royal Navy Career - Flying Training
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.