The Roy Bartlett Collection of Awards to the R.N.A.S., R.F.C. and R.A.F.

Eight: Instructor Commander E. R. Trendell, Royal Navy, late Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force: having claimed a brace of “kills” as a Sopwith Camel pilot in No. 73 Squadron in 1918, he transferred to the Royal Navy and won a “mention” for the Anzio landings in 1944

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut., R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1937, mounted court-style as worn, together with 3 sets of related miniature dress medals of varying content, minor official correction to surname on the first, very fine and better (21) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Roy Bartlett Collection of Awards to the R.N.A.S., R.F.C. and R.A.F..

View
Collection

Edward Roy Trendell, who was born at Oving, Kent in November 1898, was appointed a probationary 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps in September 1917 and qualified for his “Wings” on a Grahame-White Biplane at Hendon in the following month (Aviator’s Certificate No. 5368).

Shortly afterwards posted to No. 94 Squadron, a newly formed unit that was “working up” in the U.K., he finally went operational himself in April 1918, when he joined No. 73 Squadron, a Sopwith Camel unit, out in France, and remained on a similar footing until admitted to No. 14 Canadian Hospital that November - very possibly as a result of wounds. Be that as it may, he had clearly flown with distinction in the intervening months, an early success being an enemy 2-seater reconnaissance aircraft claimed during a line patrol on 16 June 1918, and “shared” with fellow 73 pilot, and fighter ace, Captain (afterwards Air Vice-Marshal) G. A. H. Pidcock:

‘While on patrol at 10,000 feet, six miles north of Compiegne, I saw a 2-seater under French A.A. fire. I dived, followed by Lieutenant Trendell, and caught up the enemy aircraft at 5,000 feet, firing 500 rounds at 150 yards. Lieutenant Trendell also fired 150 rounds at the same range. By this time we were at 2,000 feet, and saw the enemy aircraft continue his dive into a clearing in the wood south of Thiescourt, where he crashed. This machine was also seen to crash by Lieutenant Graham.’

And again, on 29 August 1918, in an offensive patrol N.E. of Arras, Trendell’s guns found their mark on a Fokker Biplane:

Whilst on offensive patrol with Lieutenant Lussier, we were attacked by a formation of ten enemy aircraft. One of these, after diving at me, overshot, and I fired three short bursts of 200 rounds into the enemy aircraft at point-blank range, with the result that the enemy aircraft half-rolled, and went down on its back completely out of control.’

As stated above, he was admitted to No. 14 Canadian Hospital in November 1918, and was evacuated to the U.K. a few days later, where he was placed on the Unemployed List in April 1919.

Having then studied Physics at Oxford, Trendell was commissioned as an Instructor Lieutenant in the Royal Navy in April 1923, and served in a similar capacity for the remainder of his career, enjoying a number of seagoing appointments between the wars, among them time in the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Courageous 1937-38, when he was awarded the Coronation 1937 Medal (the official roll refers).

An Instructor Commander by the renewal of hostilities, Trendell held appointments in Daedalus at Lee-on-Solent and in Cormorant in Gibraltar 1939-42, following which he joined the staff of Admiral “ABC” Cunningham at Algeria in early 1943. And it was for his services in this latter capacity - largely as a Meteorological Officer - that he was mentioned in despatches for “Operation Shingle”, the Allied landings at Anzio in January 1944 (London Gazette 6 June 1944). He was placed on the Retired List in September 1950.