RNZAF Ramrod raid on Amsterdam. May 3rd 1943

[Alex van de Wetering]

487 RNZAF Squadrons home base was located at RAF Methwold at the time, which is in Norfolk, UK, about 35miles NorthEast of Cambridge. As was often the case, the squadron was a mix of commonwealth crew....with obvisously most of them from New Zealand, but also from Canada, UK and Australia.
487 was one of the Squadrons that took part in the highly successfull bombing raid on the Dutch Philips factory in Eindhoven on december 6th 1942.

The pictures attached show a Venture bomber, which was the aircraft in use by 487 Sq in 1942-43. Also shown is a picture of some of the personnel in front of one of the Ventura's in happier times and a picture of group leader Leonard Trent (left) along with Wing Commander Grindell (middle) and Squadron leader Turnbull.

All pictures: IWM, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ramrod 16 (or 17) included 12 Lockheed Ventura bombers of 487 RNZAF Squadron, which were to be escorted by Spitfire mkV's of 118, 167 and 504 Squadron.

The aircraft would also meet up with Spitfire MkIX's of 122 Squadron and 453 Squadron. Some sources suggest these Spitfires were also tasked with support of the Ventura's, while other sources say they had their own mission, a Rodeo 212 diversionary attack on Vlissingen (Flushing), Netherlands.

There was another bombing mission at about the same time, Ramrod 17 (or 16), which was a raid by 6 Boston bombers of 107 Squadron on the IJmuiden Power station, near the IJmuiden Steelworks.

Edit: There is some confusion on to which of both missions as "Ramrod 17" and which was "Ramrod 16".
Edit: MkIX Spitfire Squadrons added.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Target for the day was the Power station in Amsterdam. Several internet articles , including the Wiki page for Ramrod 16, describe the power station being the "Hembrug Power station", but this is incorrect as the construction of that power plant didn't start until 1948. The power plant at the time was in fact the "Noord Power station" at the Papaverweg in Amsterdam-Noord (500 meters from where I work today)

The Power station was located between the Amsterdam waste incineration plant and the Fokker aircraft factory that manufacturered Junkers airplane parts at the time. It's hard to believe, but in those days Fokker produced aircraft, that were transported by boat to Schiphol, where the final assembly took place. Fokker didn't move the factory to Schiphol until 1951, when the Papaverweg location was adandoned.
Next to the Waste plant was a canal and on the other end of the canal was the NSM shipyard (NDSM after the war) that repaired German boats at the time. You can imagine this small section of Amsterdam was a well known target for bombers in WO2!

Attached is a RAF aerial picture from late 1943 (after the Ramrod raid) that shows the layout of the buildings at the time. source Wageningen University : http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/geoportal/raf

The birds eye view of the location is a picture taken in 1970. Even though the Waste plant had been enlarged in the meantime, this picture is similar to what Group Leader Leonard Trent would have seen when he reached the target on may 3rd 1943.
source Beeldbank Amsterdam: https://beeldbank.amsterdam.nl/

[Alex van de Wetering]

12 Ventura's took off from Methwold at 16:43. They met up with the Spitfire escorts at Coltishall at 17:00 hours. One of the Ventura's, EG-Q, of Sgt A.G. Barker showed damage to the excape hatch and returned to Methwold, leaving 11 Ventura's for the bombing raid.

The intention was to fly low level to the Dutch coast and climb to bombing height when crossing the coast.....all to avoid attention from German fighters. However, the 11 Wing Spitfires had already alerted the Germans at that time as they reached the Dutch coast early.....and they flew too high which meant that German Focke Wolf 190's and Messerschmitt 109's were soon swarming the area. Some sources mention 50+ German fighters, other mention even more, 80+.
The 122 and 453 sq Spits had to return to the UK when running low on fuel, so all German fighters went after the Ventura's and their Spitfire escorts. It seems the 190's were tasked with attacking the Spitfire escorts, while the 109's attacked the Ventura's.

Attached is a layout of the 11 remaining Ventura's for the raid. picture taken at "Fort Veldhuis" museum of the Aircraft Recovery Group 1940-1945

[Alex van de Wetering]

AE916, EG-C of Fl/Lt Arthur Victor Duffill was the first Ventura that got hit. Two crew members were wounded and one of the engines was on fire. The bombbay doors were open and the bombs were dropped over sea, when Duffill turned around and flew the plane back to RAF Feltwell.....the old home base of 487 Squadron. Duffill made a succesfull emergency landing and the two wounded crew members were quickly rushed to hospital. Even though this was one of only 2 Ventura's that got back to the UK, the plane was considered a totall loss.

The crew were awarded:
Distinguished flying cross
Fl/Lt Arthur Victor Duffill, pilot
F/O Frederick John Starkie, navigator

Distinguished flying medal
Sgt.Alan William Turnbull, Wireless operator/air gunner
Sgt. Laurence Henry Neill, Air gunner

More can be found here: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/.../2320/data.pdf

After the war Duffill became managing director of Humbrol modelling paints.

Attached is a picture of Ventura AE916, EG-C after landing at RAF Feltwell. source: http://www.aircrewremembered.com

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AE956 EG-H was presumed to be lost over sea. The location of the crash is not known. All four crew members were killed. The body of Navigator Richbell washed ashore in Germany weeks later. He was buried at the Hamburg cemetery. The Other three crew members were never found, but they are remembered at the Runnymede memorial in the UK.

Crew:
Pilot: Pilot Officer Andrew Edward Coutts
Wireless operator/Air gunner: Sergeant Douglas Cory Robinson (RAF)
Navigator: Flying Officer Leonard Edmund Richbell (RAF)
Air gunner: Flight Sergeant William Desmond Laurence Goodfellow




Ventura AE798 EG-D was also lost over sea. In this case the location is given as "crashed Northsea off Noordwijkerhout at 17:45".
The body of navigator Toombs washed ashore 2 July 1943 At Langeoog, Germany. He is buried at the Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany. No other crew members were recovered, but they are remembered at the Runnymede memorial in the UK.

Crew:
Pilot: Sergeant J.J. Lowe (RAF)
Navigator: Sergeant H.W. Toombs (RCAF)
Wireless operator: Sergeant J.C. Lynass (RCAF)
Air gunner: Sergeant A.E. Downs (RAF)

The Dutch Airwar Study group has a record for Ventura AE798 with details on who shot down the plane
https://www.verliesregister.studiegr...rea=&airfield=

[Alex van de Wetering]

The remainder of the Ventura bombers continued over the coast towards Bennebroek (south of Haarlem, South-West of Amsterdam), chased by the German fighters.
Eye witness accounts describe a true air battle with the Ventura's basically being sitting ducks.

Ventura AE684/ EG-B was attacked close to Bennebroek, when air gunner Sgt. Sparkes returned fire from the turret. Wireless operator/gunner Sgt. Stannard describes the plane was hit, silencing the turret and killing Sparkes. The plane was on fire and Stannard tried to reach the escape hatch and parachute which he both found to be on fire as well. He returned to the tail, but did see Pilot Coshall an Observer North escape from the plane. After a loud bang, Stannard saw the front section of the plane break away, exposing him in the tail of the plane. Somehow the tail didn't drop to the ground as you would expect, but it slowly fell like the leaf of a tree. The tail dropped into the trees between "Huis te Bennebroek" and "Reek" in Bennebroek. Stannard woke up in Huis te Bennebroek with only minor injuries. Stannard and North bacame POWs and survived the war.
Pilot Coshall's parachute was hit by German fire, so he didn't survive. Coshall and Sparkes are buried at the Bergen cemetery in Bergen (near Alkmaar).


Pilot F/O. S. Coshall (RAF)
Observer F/O. R.A. North (RAF)
Wireless op Sgt. W. Stannard (RAF)
Air gunner Sgt. G.H. Sparkes (RAF)

A painting of Ventura AE684 is displayed at the Crash museum in Aalsmeer showing Stannard in the tail (picture attached), along with at least one of the dials from the plane.

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Alex,

Great piece of research! As you have shown, there is a lot of confusion about this mission.

For some information on the crash site of Ventura EG-O, see https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/1...ntura-EG-O.htm
and AJ200: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/4...ber-AJ-200.htm

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

487 RNZAF Squadrons home base was located at RAF Methwold at the time, which is in Norfolk, UK, about 35miles NorthEast of Cambridge. As was often the case, the squadron was a mix of commonwealth crew....with obvisously most of them from New Zealand, but also from Canada, UK and Australia.
487 was one of the Squadrons that took part in the highly successfull bombing raid on the Dutch Philips factory in Eindhoven on december 6th 1942.

Although the clip on YouTube shown below is about the Eindhoven mission, I have included it here as it includes rare footage of the sort of low-level flying used in the Ramrod raid:

"RAF Raid Holland In Daylight (1942)" - https://youtu.be/ExWCf4gWJvs

H.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Hanno! And thanks for posting the link to the youtube vid.....very interesting, especially when you see the damage to the planes at the end!

For some information on the crash site of Ventura EG-O, see https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/1...ntura-EG-O.htm
and AJ200: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/4...ber-AJ-200.htm

More to come.....those two are next

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AJ200 / EG-G was flying near Hoofddorp, when it was hit and a fire broke out. Sgt. Sharp gave the order to bail, but only Sgt. Gibson replied and jumped from the plane using his parachute. Unfortunately his parachute was damaged by German fire and Gibson was killed. Sharp couldn't open the escape hatch, but he was able to jump from the plane, when a piece of the plane broke off.. He quickly pulled the cord for his parachute. The plane crashed into the moat of "Fort Vijfhuizen"....one the many Dutch fortresses surrounding Amsterdam.
Eye witness accounts describe a large wave of water and mud could be seen miles away, when the plane crashed. Sharp was the only survivor and was taken prisoner.

The bodies of the other crew members were recovered and buried in Hoofddorp. The cemetery is not the cemetery near the city centre of Hoofddorp, but actually the cemetery just east of Hoofddorp and right next to the taxiway of Schiphol airport towards the "Polderbaan" runway. This is also the reason that the cemetery will eventually be removed. Hopefully the war casualties will find a proper new resting place! (apart from the 487sq crew, there are also 3 other Commonwealth graves, along with some graves of Dutch soldiers that died in 1940 while defending Schiphol)

Crew:
Pilot Sgt. J.D. Sharp
Observer Sgt. H. Gibson (RAF)
Wo ag Sgt. A. Stevens (RAF)
Air gunner Sgt. D.L. Rowland (RAF)

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AJ200 / EG-G
An attempt was done in 1976 to recover the plane from the moat, but only small pieces of the plane were found. Years later more pieces were found after cleaning out the area around the fortress. It seems most of the plane had already been removed in 1943 and presumably sold as scrap.
The recovered plane segments are on loan to the Crash museum in Aalsmeer. Sadly, they can't be viewed at the moment, due to a temporary display regarding the liberation in 1945.

Fort Vijfhuizen is now a display of art by various artists. I have heard the Fortress has a section of the Ventura with the painted roundel still visible, but I haven't been able to confirm this yet.

Vijfhuizen honors the crew in the street names in the village. There is a "Gibsonstraat", "Stevensweg", "Rowlandstraat" and "Vliegersplein", which is where my aunt lives. The "Stevensweg" runs along the edge of the park which now houses another monument.....the MH17 monument, for the Malaysian airlines flight 17 that was taken down by a rocket over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AE731 / EG-O was the next plane to be hit by a German fighter. The instrument panel was damaged and the cockpit windows completely shot to pieces. The plane was almost impossible to control and a fire broke out, at which point Pilot Tayler gave the order to bail. Taylor found his parachute to be peppered by German bullets and decided to go down with the plane, thinking the other 3 had already left the plane. When the plane dove down, it was suddenly possible to somewhat control the plane again and Taylor belly landed the plane at the eastern edge of Haarlem. Locals quickly rushed to the site where the plane landed and helped all crew members from the plane. Gunner George Tattam shortly died afterwards, having been hit by German bullets shortly before the plane hit the ground.

George Tattam was buried at the Bergen Cemetery, right next to his other 487sq comrads, Coshall and Sparkes.
Shapiro, Littlewood and Tayler were taken prisoner.

crew:
Pilot P/O. T.L.B. Taylor
Observer P/O. M.B. Shapiro (RAF)
Wireless op Sgt. L.J. Littlewood (RAF)
Air gunner Sgt. G.T. Tattam (RAF)

The Log book of George Tattam is on display at "Fort Veldhuis in Heemskerk" (picture)

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AE731 / EG-O

The location of the belly landing is given as "Zomerweg, Haarlem". Today the Zomerweg has disappeared and the Polder area has now been turned into a large residential area (Schalkwijk). However, its known that the plane landed at the Zomerweg, next to a community garden complex "Ons Buiten", which still exists today! At the entrance of "Ons Buiten" there is a monument with a display sign.
The prop blade is not one of the actual ventura, but a WW2 blade that was found in the North sea.

The picture attached shows the actual Ventura after the belly landing (picture from "Ons Buiten"). The plane remained at the site for at least a week, which meant a lot of locals came to have a look.

Also attached is a picture of a small piece of remaining Polder near the site. This is what most of the area would have looked like in 1943.

Alex