[RodM]

Hi Michael,

technically, Ayson was not specifically credited with any aerial victories as I understand it, he simply piloted the aircraft. The crew manning the guns made the claims.

According to Chris Rudge's book, the only subsequent claim made in an RNZAF Ventura in the Pacific after 24 December 1944 was a Zeke damaged by No. 2 Squadron on 28 February 1944.

Off the cuff, the only instance of an RNZAF Ventura pilot claiming an enemy aircraft that comes to mind was S/L Len Trent during the ill-fated Amsterdam raid on 3 May 1943. He fired at a Bf109 using the fixed forward-firing machine gun. Needless to say, because Trent became a PoW during the raid, his claim is not included in the official Bomber Command lists of aerial victories awarded (Bomber Command did award one Fw.190 destroyed to the gunner(s) of Ventura AE916 - the only one of eleven Venturas to return from the raid). S/L Trent's "claim" came from his post-war debriefs and appears in his VC citation.

Again, off the cuff, here is an official Bomber Command list of awarded aerial victories involving Ventura aircraft of that command between January and May 1943:

3/02/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/G
11:05h, 5 mi N. Calais Marek, 9,000ft
1 x FW 190 DESTROYED

13/02/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/H
16:07h, 3 mi W. Ijmuiden, 7,000ft
1x FW 190 PROBABLY DESTROYED

13/02/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/R
16:07h, 3 mi W. Ijmuiden, 7,000ft
1 x FW 190 DAMAGED

5/04/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/K
17:45h, over Brest, 6,000ft
1 x FW 190 DAMAGED

5/04/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/K
17:45h, over Brest, 6,000ft
1 x FW 190 DAMAGED

5/04/43 Day 2 Grp, 21 Sqn
Ventura/U
17:54h, near Brest, 5,000ft
1 x FW 190 DESTROYED

3/05/43 Day 2 Grp, 487 Sqn
Ventura/C
17:35h, 10 mi S. Ijmiuden, 12,000ft
1 x FW 190 DESTROYED

(I don't have the lists for the period prior to January 1943, and, of course, 2 Group transferred out of Bomber Command at the end of May 1943)

Cheers

Rod

PS - slightly off-topic but for anyone interested in the air war over the Solomon Islands and South-West Pacific, I highly recommend Chris Rudge's very well-written book...


Air-to-Air. The story behind the air-to-air combat claims of the RNZAF
Chris Rudge (with forward by F/O G.B. Fisken DFC)
Adventure Air, Lyttelton, New Zealand, 2003
ISBN 0-473-09724-9