The Marine Luchtvaartdienst in the Netherlands East Indies
Before the Pacific War, the Marine Luchtvaartdienst—the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, generally abbreviated as MLD—maintained its principal operational strength in the Netherlands East Indies.
Flying boats were particularly well suited to the enormous Indonesian archipelago, where conventional airfields were limited but sheltered bays, rivers and lakes provided numerous operating locations. MLD Dornier Do 24K and Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats conducted maritime reconnaissance, convoy protection, patrol, bombing, transport and rescue operations in support of the Netherlands East Indies fleet.
When Japan entered the war in December 1941, MLD aircraft fought throughout the Netherlands East Indies and surrounding waters. Heavy losses were sustained during the Japanese advance, while surviving aircraft were increasingly employed to evacuate military personnel, officials and civilians southwards towards Australia.
For the wider account of these operations, see From Pearl Harbor to Broome: Dutch seaplanes and the shifting tides of the Pacific War.
Evacuation to Australia
During February and early March 1942, Dutch Dornier and Catalina flying boats carried evacuees from the collapsing Netherlands East Indies to Australian ports and flying-boat bases.
Broome became an important refuelling point on the route between Java and the principal Australian centres. Dutch flying boats arrived carrying aircrew, naval personnel, government officials, families and other civilians.
On 3 March 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked Broome and destroyed numerous Allied flying boats in Roebuck Bay. Five Dutch Dornier Do 24Ks and four Dutch Catalinas were among the aircraft lost. Many Dutch and Netherlands East Indies military personnel and civilians were killed or wounded.
The attack seriously weakened the remaining MLD force and left survivors scattered across Australia.
For the detailed account, see The Drama of Broome, 3 March 1942.
Dutch Dorniers transferred to the RAAF
A number of Dornier Do 24Ks survived the retreat to Australia. Most were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force because the Dutch no longer possessed the maintenance organisation, spare parts and personnel required to keep them operational independently.
The aircraft entered RAAF service as the A49 series. Australian personnel repaired heavily worn and damaged airframes at Rathmines and the No. 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot at Lake Boga. Several subsequently operated with No. 41 Squadron RAAF on transport and communication flights to New Guinea.
Their history is covered separately in The Dutch Dorniers in Australia: flying boats in exile during WWII.
Groep Aernout and Dornier X-24
One Dornier, X-24, initially remained under Dutch control. Together with Catalina Y-45, it formed the nucleus of a small naval aviation unit commanded by MLD First Lieutenant Aernout.
The unit was originally known as Groep Aernout and later as the MLD Detachment Australia.
X-24 acquired the affectionate nickname Ouwe Lobbes, approximately meaning “Old Faithful”. From Australian bases it transported Netherlands East Indies officials, military personnel, intelligence officers, supplies and communications to Dutch-controlled or contested territories.
Its destinations included Merauke, Tanah Merah, the Digul region and other locations in Netherlands New Guinea, as well as the Tanimbar, Kai and Aru islands. These flights helped maintain contact between the Netherlands East Indies administration in Australia and isolated territories that had not been occupied by Japan.
Some journeys were undertaken on behalf of the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) and the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA). The flying boats’ ability to operate without established airfields made them valuable for intelligence, reconnaissance and clandestine transport work.
X-24 visited Lake Boga in April 1943 for maintenance. It was formally transferred to the RAAF in June 1943 and received the serial A49-6, although its subsequent operational use was limited. It was eventually placed in storage and reduced to components.
ial watercolour made at Rose Bay in 1945 depicts a Catalina undergoing repairs at the RAAF depot. The Memorial identifies the aircraft as being manned by Royal Netherlands East Indies personnel.
The detachment’s presence at Rose Bay formed part of the wider Dutch wartime aviation network extending through Sydney, Rathmines, Lake Boga, Brisbane, northern Australia and New Guinea.
No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF
Most of the surviving MLD Catalina force did not remain in Australia. Five Catalinas continued from Australia to Ceylon, where Dutch naval aviation personnel contributed to No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF.
One aircraft completed the journey from Australia to Ceylon nonstop, while the others travelled via the Cocos Islands. The experience gained on these long-distance flights contributed to the development of regular wartime air connections across the Indian Ocean.
No. 321 Squadron conducted maritime reconnaissance and convoy-protection operations from Ceylon. Although closely connected with the MLD personnel who escaped through Australia, its operational history belongs principally to the Indian Ocean theatre and should not be confused with the smaller MLD Detachment Australia.
Liberation and repatriation flights
Following Japan’s surrender in August 1945, Dutch Catalinas helped locate and evacuate former prisoners of war and civilian internees. They carried survivors from the Netherlands East Indies to Australia for medical treatment, recuperation and eventual repatriation.
One of the Dutch Catalinas photographed in this period carried released prisoners from Makassar to Australia.
The Australian War Memorial records the experience of Royal Netherlands Navy Leading Seaman J.S. van Os, who was evacuated to Australia aboard a crowded Dutch Catalina in October 1945. He travelled through Darwin to Melbourne for recuperation after surviving Japanese imprisonment.
These flights demonstrate that the MLD detachment’s work did not end with combat operations. The same aircraft that had maintained dangerous wartime communications were now used to bring survivors to safety.
The end of the Australian detachment
As Dutch forces returned to the Netherlands East Indies after the war, the need for a separate naval aviation detachment in Australia diminished. Aircraft and personnel were progressively transferred, returned or withdrawn.
Catalina Y-45 was eventually sent for disposal at Rose Bay.
Although small, the MLD Detachment Australia maintained an important connection between the Netherlands East Indies authorities in exile and territories still accessible to them. Its operations also formed part of the broader Allied network of reconnaissance, intelligence, transport and rescue flights extending from Australia across New Guinea and the eastern Netherlands East Indies.
Historical significance
The Dutch naval flying-boat presence in Australia illustrates:
- the evacuation of Dutch military personnel and civilians from the Netherlands East Indies;
- the destruction caused by the Japanese attack on Broome;
- the transfer and restoration of Dutch Dorniers by the RAAF;
- secret NEFIS and NICA communications with isolated territories;
- cooperation between Dutch crews, the RAAF and Australian civilian aviation organisations;
- long-distance Catalina operations between Australia and Ceylon; and
- the evacuation of former prisoners and internees after Japan’s surrender.
Together, the Dorniers and Catalinas represent an important naval dimension of the Dutch military presence in wartime Australia.
Related DACC articles
- DACC Air Force Research Portal
- The Dutch Dorniers in Australia: flying boats in exile during WWII
- From Pearl Harbor to Broome: Dutch seaplanes and the shifting tides of the Pacific War
- The Drama of Broome, 3 March 1942
- The secret and dangerous operations of Australian and Dutch flying-boat crews
- A Dutch flying boat remembered: the Dornier Do 24 engine at Broome
- Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum and the Dutch Dornier Do 24K
- Evert Herman van Hummel survived a Catalina crash in 1945
Sources and further reading
- Australian War Memorial—Catalina flying boat at Rose Bay
- Australian War Memorial—Leading Seaman J.S. van Os
- Geoff Goodall—Dornier Do 24 aircraft in Australia
On one of these flights Admiral Helfrich was transported to Australia for a visit and inspection of his naval, land and air forces in that country. On the way back there was a deviation from the normal route via Exmouth Gulf for certain reasons. The pilot decided to fly from Perth to Ceylon – a brave job considering that the distance was about 3200 nautical miles. Again by No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron set a record.
The Do-24Ks that after their arrival in Australia from the NEI were not able to cover this stretch to Ceylon because their range was too small, were sold to the RAAF, except the X-24, which was used for the NEFIS and NICA (Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service and Netherlands Indies Civil Administration) flights between Australia and Netherlands New Guinea, Tanimbar, Kai and Aroe Islands.
In late 1943 the Netherlands Government-in-Exile in London purchased two new Catalinas to replace the obsolete Do-24Ks in Australia. Both aircraft, the Y-86 and Y-87, were flown from the United States to Australia by Dutch crews. The remaining flying hours were spent on training and training flights, on transport and research flights, as well as on transfers of personnel and equipment.
The MLD Detachment Australia kept growing and by 1945 they were based at the Qantas Empire Airways facility at Rose Bay, Sydney.
The pictures below are from the archives of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Epilogue
In three and a half years (March 1942-August 1945) the 321 Dutch Squadron RAF, with an average strength of 22 aircraft, had flown 31,700 hours, of which 22,500 operational. Fifteen aircraft were on average available for war flights and with this small percentage the Squadron succeeded in convoying no less than six thousand Allied ships without the slightest loss. It is therefore that this Squadron has been one of the best Allied squadrons in the Second World War, as evidenced by various telegrams from high-ranking Allied personalities.
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