Submitted by Larry Jarvis
Born in Sarnia Ontario on December 11th, 1917. Roy was the "old man" of the crew at the age of 27.
Roy was a graduate of Western University in London Ontario where he now called home. He was a star player
with their championship football team.
He went on to play professional football with the Toronto Argonauts before volunteering for the war.
In high school Roy had excelled in a number of sports including track and field, gymnastics, football
and boxing. Roy was not big in stature, but his strength, agility and ability the react quickly to
situations would prove to be beneficial in his role.
He was also working as a research chemist in addition to being a professional football player
when he enlisted in the RCAF on February 20 1942. He graduated from No.1 ITS on October 9th 1942 being selected there for
pilot training.
His training at No.7 EFTS was completed on January 1 1943, he then was posted to No.6 SFTS where he graduated on April 30 1943.
As the pilot he was the "quarterback" of the team. He received information from the other members
of the crew and used it to try and complete the mission and to get the crew home again without
injury. He was the person that made the call to "bail out" if conditions warranted it.
He was also trained in navigation in the event that something happened to the navigator. Early in the war,
before the introduction of the four engine bombers the pilot was the navigator, flight engineer and other
tasks depending on the type of the aircraft.
The RAF realized that it was too difficult
for one person to do all these tasks for pilots of heavy bombers and added trades such as the Flight Engineer.
The pilot needed to be fearless because night after night
he had a ringside seat to everything that was taking place around him, both in and outside the aircraft.
The pilot as captain of the aircraft was as with a captain of a ship expected to stay with the
aircraft as long as possible to protect his crew.
Crew selection was made at No. 24 OTU in Long Marston, England early in 1944.
Roy and his crew were based at Middleton St. George arriving on May 26 1944 and flew 32 missions between
June and October 1944 with his crew.
In addition he completed two sorties as 2nd. Pilot for a total of 34 ops. during his time with 419 Squadron.
Although the crew had several close calls, they all avoided serious injury. Roy was awarded a
Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on one of their missions.
The details given in F/O Kent's commendation give some idea of what occurred.
In all his operations against the enemy Flying Officer Kent has shown great determination to attack his targets.
One night in August 1944 he was engaged on a mission to Acquet. Shortly after take-off the port outer engine
failed and before crossing the English coast one of the starboard engines also failed. Nevertheless,
Flying Officer Kent flew on to the target and completed his mission, afterwards returning to base
where he executed a masterly landing in exceedingly difficult circumstances. Flying Officer Kent
has displayed high courage, skill and determination.
