Dressed to kill... the who wonVC – in his

First World War ace Alan Jerrard stopped at nothing to get at the enemy... not even dressing. reveals the exploits of one of the country’s bravest fighter pilots

FIRST World War fighter ace Alan Jerrard has a unique place in military history. He is the only man to earn a Victoria Cross while wearing... pyjamas. The pilot, one of three men from Sutton Coldfield’s Bishop Vesey School to gain a VC, was certainly a very magnificent man when in a flying machine. In fact, he could fly with his eyes shut, explain the pyjamas. Flight Lieutenant Jerrard, just 20, was asleep in bed when orders came through to attack an enemy aerodrome. He just had time to slip his flying suit over his nightclothes before stepping into his singleseat Sopwith Camel biplane. The searing wind soon focused the daring airman for the battle ahead and he shot down one plane before strafing his “crates” which may the airfield from just 50 feet up. The odds during that March 30, 1918, dogfight over Mansue, Italy, were clearly not on Jerrard’s side.

He and two colleagues from 66 Squadron dodged and wheeled away from 19 enemy craft.

But in all, he shot down three planes, and his pals a further three between them.

Jerrard, who believed in living dangerously, only withdrew from the battle when ordered to do so by his patrol leader. He was pursued by five enemy planes, one of them flown by Austrian ace Oberleutnant Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg.

Flying an Albatross D.111, Fernbrugg was chasing his 14th “kill” – and got it. He would go on to shoot down 28 planes.

When Jerrard’s machine crashed into a tree – and, remember, in those days there were no parachutes – it was found to be riddled with 163 bullet holes. Sixteen of those shells struck the engine and 27 penetrated the fuel tank. The fuel that spewed from the doomed craft at least saved Jerrard from burning alive.

In an age when pilots believed in chivalry, von Fernbrugg was driven to the crash scene and was informed that his victim was wearing pyjamas. The ace immediately sent a message to Jerrard’s squadron, requesting clothing.

Two parcels containing uniforms were duly dropped on an Austrian aerodrome.

Jerrard’s heroics did not end there. He escaped from his Salzburg prison camp at the end of 1918 and was presented with a silver punch bowl by the Staffordshire Territorial Force Association.

His military career may read like a Sly Stallone film script, but there was nothing in his staid early life to suggest such adventures beckoned.

Jerrard was actually born in Lewish-