Group Captain Leonard Henry Trent, (14 April 1915 – 19 May 1986) was a New Zealand aviator, senior Royal Air Force officer, and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Born in Nelson, Trent obtained a short-term commission in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1938 after receiving flight training in New Zealand. After travelling to England, he was posted to No. 15 Squadron RAF and was sent to France shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, flying Fairey Battles on photo-reconnaissance missions into Germany. After his squadron returned to England and converted to Bristol Blenheims, he flew several bombing missions during the Battle of France for which he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Afterwards he spent several months on instructing duties before being posted to No. 487 (NZ) Squadron in August 1942, which operated Lockheed Venturas. He was shot down over Amsterdam while on a bombing mission, codenamed Operation Ramrod 16, on 3 May 1943, becoming a prisoner of war.
After the war, he was awarded the VC for his actions during Ramrod 16. He continued to serve with the RAF and was commander of No. 214 Squadron during the Suez Crisis. He retired in June 1965 and lived in Australia, and then New Zealand, in his later years. He died in 1986, aged 71.
Early life
Leonard Henry Trent was born in Nelson, New Zealand, on 14 April 1915, the son of Leonard Trent, a dentist, and his wife Irene . In April 1919 the family relocated to Tākaka, along the shore of Golden Bay. Three years later, his father paid for Trent to take a short flight in a Gipsy Moth piloted by Malcolm C. McGregor, a fighter ace of the First World War, and subsequently Trent became interested in flying. He was educated at Nelson College, boarding at the school from 1928. Not particularly academically inclined he became increasingly interested in golf and in his final year at school, in 1934, won the Nelson Golf Club Senior Championship.
Trent had intended to go to university to study dentistry, but the family could not afford to pay for his studies and he instead took up a position as a clerk in the administrative office of an abattoir in Hastings. He gave up the work after a year and returned to Nelson to assist his father in his dental practice. After a time he moved to Wellington taking up office work again. He was soon earning enough money that he could afford to go to night school and study aero engineering and maintenance.
Early service career
In early 1937, in response to an advertisement in a newspaper, Trent applied for a short-term commission in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He passed a selection interview and subsequent medical test and in August was accepted for flight training. Induction training was with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and was held at Taieri, near Dunedin, where he flew Gipsy Moths and Miles Magisters. Trent then undertook flight training at the RNZAF's Wigram Air Base in Christchurch, flying Avro 626 and Vickers Vildebeest aircraft. He gained his wings on 12 May 1938 and a month later he sailed for Britain to join the RAF. He was granted a short-service commission of five years in the rank of pilot officer on 23 August 1938.
Posted to No. 15 Squadron RAF, which operated Fairey Battles out of Abingdon in Berkshire, Trent spent the next few months learning bombing and reconnaissance flying techniques. In February 1939, he spent three months at Hamble, near Southampton, attending a navigation course. Here he met Ursula Woolhouse, while playing golf at the local club in his downtime.
Second World War
In early September 1939, following the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 15 Squadron flew to France as part of the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force. Stationed at Vraux, the squadron was to fly high-level photo-reconnaissance missions over enemy territory, collecting information on German airfields, factories and major infrastructure. Trent flew his first mission into Germany on 24 September 1939, No. 15 Squadron's first operational sortie of the war. This period of the war was known as the Phoney War, and much the squadron's flying revolved around training and practice bombing missions. The squadron was sent back to England in early December to convert to the Bristol Blenheim IV, a light bomber, operating from Wyton.