1942-11-06 ventura II
1942-11-06, ventura II,AJ220, hoogvliet/spijkenisse
Spijkenisse
1942-Nov-06,14.31h., ventura II,AJ220,21 sqdr,F/Lt. D.O.Brown
Mission
According to The Bomber Command War Diaries by Middlebrook and Everitt;
10 Venturas in fours and twos carried out low-level raids to Holland. 3 aircraft lost. These raids might have been in support of the 14 Wellingtons and 5 Lancasters on cloud-cover raids to Essen, Osnabruck and Wilhelshaven and 12 Bostons who bombed an airfield near Caen, France.
2 Group R.A.F. by Bowyer;
Four Venturas of 21 Squadron set out on the 6th. Again it was misty and this time they wrongly pinpointed their position at the Dutch coast. They had intended to attack shipping at Maassluis but the leader, W/C Werfield, settled for a ship in Rotterdam. One bombed barges at Maassluis, one abandoned the mission and YH-X disappeared. Six others were despatched in pairs to Roosendaal, Ijmuiden and Den Helder. Only F/O Hicks bombed, again due to bad visibility. YH-V and L both failed to return, probably flak victims. Pages 261 and 262
Stephen
For AJ220: target 'Petroleumhavens' Maassluis - Rotterdam. Crashed 14.31h near Hoogvliet 2 km S of Spijkenisse. ROWE killed on board by flak shell; SHIPTON died in the Wilhelmina-ziekenhuis at Amsterdam.
Crash
Accoording to the book "En toen was het stil" by Hans Onderwater the plane was hit by flak , and sgt Rowe was hit by snapel and died during the bombrun, the right wing was on fire and the pilot tried to reach the sea. At very low altitude the plane exploded.
Reynolds and Shipton were trown clear of the plane and brown fell to the ground between pieces of the wrekage. All 3 men were wounded and brought from Hoogvliet to Rotterdam. A day later Shipton was brought by ambulance to te Luftwaffe hospital in amsterdam were he died an few day's later.
The weather was very bad that day and at least 3 Ventura's were lost when flying missions over Holland.
Crew
AJ220 Ventura II 21Sqn. YH-X
F/O D O Brown POW,
F/S B B Shipton KIA (buried in the New Eastern Cemetery at Amsterdam)
F/S R G Rowe KIA (buried in Crooswijk General Cemetery at Rotterdam),
F/S D J Reynolds POW
Plane
137-4358
194? The aircraft was acquired by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and serialed as AJ220.
A mointh later the 21 Sqdr. took revenge for its losses this day and bombed Den Helder again.
Allied air raid by 12 Lockheed Ventura's of RAF 21st. Squadron on Den Helder. The moment the bombs hit. At least 36 bombs hit the target area with direct hits on buildings and torpedo maintenance and assembly hall. date: december 23rd. 1942
Lockheed Ventura
The Ventura, a derivative of the popular Hudson then in service with Coastal Command on anti-shipping and reconnaissance tasks, replaced Blenheim day bombers in No 2 Group. By the time it entered service with Bomber Command, was outdated and suffered heavy losses.
The Ventura entered service with No 21 Squadron at the end of May 1942, some 18 months later than planned and made its debut in November. A month later, Venturas joined other aircraft from No 2 Group (Mosquitos and Bostons), in the famous raid on the Philips works at Eindhoven.The aircraft was not popular with its crews and earned the nickname 'The Pig'. By April 1943, Ventura losses were beginning to mount and a month later the aircraft's inadequacies were shown in a daylight attack on a power station near Amsterdam.
Twelve aircraft from No 487 Squadron RNZAF, operating with an escort of Spitfires, were 'bounced' by German fighters as they approached the intended target. The Spitfires were engaged by elements of the defending force whilst the remainder attacked the helpless Venturas. Within minutes, 9 Venturas had been shot down and a tenth, badly damaged, managed to evade the fighters and return to England. This left a single bomber, piloted by Squadron Leader LH Trent, which pressed on and managed to attack the power station. After seeing his bombs just miss, Trent's aircraft was then attacked and shot down with only the pilot and his navigator surviving the crash to become prisoners of war. Squadron Leader Trent was finally awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery when the story of the fateful attack was reconstructed after the war.
The final bomber op for the Ventura was flown in September 1943, by which time Ventura squadrons had transferred to the Second Tactical Air Force. Some were also transferred to duties in the Middle East and to Coastal Command.
Unit
History of No. 21 Squadron.
Motto: "Viribus vincimus" (By strength we conquer).
Badge: A hand erased at the wrist, holding a dumb-bell. The dumb-bell was used as a badge by the squadron in 1917 and symbolises strength.
Authority: HM King George VI, July 1938.
No. 21 Squadron, RFC, was formed at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on 23rd July 1915, and went to France in January 1916, as a general duties squadron equipped with RE7 aircraft; it was, incidentally, the only unit to serve overseas equipped with RE7s throughout. The squadron's initial duties were mainly strategic reconnaissance and patrol but from 9th March it was also employed on bombing. On 30th June 1918, on the eve of the great Somme offensive, six of its RE7s opened the RFC's bombing programme by attacking the railway station at St. Sauveur, near Lille, where the enemy was known to have been stockpiling ammunition. Each RE7 carried a 336-lb. bomb and this was the first occasion on which the big, heavy-cased Royal Aircraft Factory bomb was used in France.
In August 1916, the squadron was re-equipped with the BE12 single-seater and during the next 5 to 6 months was engaged on offensive arid defensive patrols, escort work, and bombing. In February/March 1917, it was re-equipped with the RE8 and assumed the duties of a corps squadron. It remained in this role for the remainder of the war and for its work during the Messines offensive in the spring of 1917 was congratulated by General Trenchard in person who said it was the best artillery squadron in France.
Disbanded in October 1919, No. 21 was re-formed as a bomber squadron at Bircham Newton in December 1935, and equipped with the Hawker Hind two-seat day bomber. It later moved to Abbotsinch, Lympne and Eastchurch, and on the outbreak of war was based at Watton, Norfolk.
During the early part of the war, No. 21 Squadron, flying Blenheim IVs, played a prominent part in No. 2 Group's offensive against shipping in the English Channel and the North Sea, and "fringe" targets on the Continent. The squadron went to Malta in December 1941, and, flying from Luqa, attacked shipping in the Mediterranean and land targets in North Africa. It was disbanded on 14th March 1942, and re-formed the same day in England. Later that year it received new equipment in the form of the Lockheed Ventura, and on 6th December, operating from Methwold, was one of the squadrons which made the daring low-level attack on the Phillips radio and valve factory at Eindhoven.
No. 21 continued daylight operations with Venturas-albeit spasmodically - until early September 1943, and soon afterwards began to convert to the fighter-bomber version of the de Havilland Mosquito. During the remainder of the war it was mainly employed on night bombing, but also took part in several special daylight precision attacks, including such spectacular ones as those against the Gestapo Headquarters at Aarhus in Denmark on 31st October 1944, and the Gestapo Headquarters at Copenhagen on 21st March 1945. In February 1945 the Squadron moved to France and carried out intruder raids over Germany for the rest of the war and was disbanded on November 1947.
One of No. 21's Mosquitos, LR385 "D-Dog", made 104 operational sorties (on 91 of which bombs were dropped) with the squadron. It flew its first op on 6th February 1944, when it bombed a V-weapon site at Bois Coquerie, and its 104th op on 29/30th November 1944, when it bombed a railway - including a train - and also strafed a factory during a patrol immediately behind the battle line.
Ventura AE784 Information
Further Information
"No Production or delivery details. Airborne from Methwold. Cause of loss and crash-site not established. Sgt Atkinson is buried in Bergen op Zoom War Cemetery, Holland. F/L J.E.Harrison PoW P/O H.J.Luck PoW Sgt W.J.Atkinson KIA F/L C.W.Hunt RNZAF PoW F/L J.E.Harrison was interned in Camp L3, PoW No.823 with F/L C.W.Hunt, PoW No.824 and P/O H.J.Luck, PoW No.825. "
