Group Capt. Leonard Trent

Press, 22 May 1986, Page 29

Group Capt. Leonard Trent

PA Nelson Group Captain Leonard Henry Trent, a Victoria Cross Winner, has died in Auckland. He was 71. He was born and educated in Nelson. He flew for the first time as a five-year-old passenger in a Gipsy Moth. The love of flying and flight never left him.

He left school in 1934, working as a clerk with a Hastings freezing works and as an apprentice dental mechanic before applying for a short-term commission in the Royal Air Force.

. In 1937, he began flying training. By 1939, Pilot

Officer Trent was stationed in northern France, flying high-level reconnaissance missions over German-occupied territory. From 1939 to 1942 he flew 24 missions and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. On May 3, 1943, Squadron Leader Trent of 487 (N.Z.) Squadron, Royal Air Force, was detailed to lead a formation of Ventura bombers during a daylight raid on the Amsterdam power station. Of the 11 Venturas to leave England, only one surviwjjd; 31 crew members difh and 13, including

Squadron Leader Trent were captured. After being a prisoner-of-war for three years, he was awarded the Victoria Cross — Britain’s highest honour for gallantry in action — after his repatriation in 1946. The award, made by George VI at Buckingham Palace, recognised the New Zealander’s “cool, unflinching courage and devotion to duty in face of overwhelming odds.” He continued to serve with the Royal Air Force after the end4s World War 11. He was appointed

to the staff of the Central Flying School and assumed command of the first Valiant V-Bomber squadron during the Suez crisis in 1956. He later became Bomber Command representative at the British Embassy in Washington and was appointed as an aide-de-camp to The Queen. In 1958, he took part in celebrations to mark the R.N.2.A.F.’s twenty-first anniversary, flying a Valiant bomber over Nelson College and Golden Bay. Group Captain trent tired to live in Auckland/