Ventura VC
Valiant Daylight Raid on Amsterdam Power House
Of the three New Zealand airmen awarded the V.C. while serving with the RAF, Squadron Leader Leonard Henry Trent was the only one to survive the war. A measure of his dedication was a decision to forgo a Staff College course in order to remain on operations. On May 3 1943 Trent was detailed to lead a formation of eleven Venturas from 487 (RNZAF) in a daylight raid on an Amsterdam power station.
Low Level
Crews were warned they could expect a hostile reception from the Amsterdam defences; tragically so they were soon to discover. Trent had gained the leader’s position on this hazardous mission and before take-off he expressed his utter determination to see it to a successful conclusion. The formation linked up with its Spitfire escort and then flew at wave height across the English Channel in an attempt to evade enemy radar. Unfortunately for the bombers the extra Spitfire escort from 453 (RAAF) did not materialise. It had been recalled; thus depriving the Venturas of vital support.
Fighter Attack
As they approached the Dutch coast Trent took the formation to 12,000 feet for the run-up to the target. At that point they were attacked by a sixty-plus formation of FW190s and Me109s. In a planned move the Focke Wulfs engaged the Spitfires while the Messerschmitts took on the bombers.
The Ventura of second in command, Flight Lieutenant Duffill was badly damaged in the first attack but he managed to break off and return to base. Not so fortunate were his No.2 and 3, who were brought down in flames.
In the midst of the melee Trent was presented with an absolute ‘sitter’ when a Messerschmitt stall- turned in front of him. One accurate burst from the fixed nose gun was enough and the Me. fell away in flames. He then concentrated on his bombing run and at the commencement Trent’s No.3 fell away in flames. With his own run completed he realised his No.2 had also gone.
Escape by Parachute
At that moment his aircraft was fatally hit by cannon fire, causing it to rear in a near loop and blow up. Miraculously Trent fell clear of the doomed Ventura and parachuted to earth along with his navigator; the two other crewmembers died when the aircraft exploded.
Trent and his navigator plus two others were the only survivors from the ten Venturas brought down over the target. The sole aircraft to return to base was the badly damaged Ventura of Flt. Lt. Duffill. With his navigator F/O. Starkie and two wounded crewmen they represented just four of the 44 who set out on the disastrous mission and returned to base.
Those who parachuted to safety over the target faced two years of captivity, but for the remaining crew members there was no such reprieve. S/Ldr. Trent survived the rigours of captivity, and was a member of a group which made a daring escape attempt; but the would-be ecapers were soon rounded up and returned to captivity. For his leadership on that tragic bombing mission of May 1943 Trent was eventually awarded a Victoria Cross. This was gazetted on 1 March 1946, the citation of which concluded:
Such was the trust placed in this gallant officer that the other pilots followed him unwaveringly. His cool unflinching courage and devotion to duty in the face of over-whelming odds ranks with the finest examples of these virtues.
The Amsterdam raid was a tragic and costly example of the odds faced by the Ventura crews during 1943. The new bomber that was supposed to replace the ageing Blenheims of No.2 Group proved to be virtually helpless in low level operations. They were quickly withdrawn, to the general relief of all the surviving aircrew and replaced by the incomparable De Havilland Mosquito; so perhaps their sacrifice was not in vain.
Sqdrn.Ldr. Trent
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Lockheed Ventura
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