RNZAF Ramrod raid on Amsterdam. May 3rd 1943

[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/