This research portal brings together 92 individual articles documenting the Dutch and Netherlands East Indies air-force presence in Australia during and immediately after the Second World War.
Following the Japanese conquest of the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942, surviving Dutch and Indonesian air-force personnel, naval aviators, civilian aircrews and aircraft escaped to Australia. From Australian bases they reorganised, trained and returned to active service as part of the wider Allied campaign against Japan.
Australia became the principal centre of Dutch air power in exile in the Southwest Pacific. Dutch aircrew served alongside Australian personnel in joint Netherlands East Indies–RAAF squadrons, while Dutch transport aircraft operated from Brisbane and other Australian bases. The Royal Netherlands Navy’s flying boats conducted reconnaissance, transport, evacuation and clandestine operations across the region.
Two joint Dutch–Australian combat squadrons became operational. No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF flew B-25 Mitchell bombers from northern Australia, while No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF operated Kittyhawk fighters from Merauke in Netherlands New Guinea. A proposed third combat formation, No. 119 Squadron, did not become operational.
Dutch military transport services, drawing heavily upon former KNILM and KLM personnel, were centred at Archerfield Airport in Brisbane. These services developed into Nos. 1 and 2 Netherlands East Indies Transport Squadrons and ultimately No. 19 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron.
These operations depended upon close cooperation with the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces. Australia provided bases, training facilities, ground personnel, maintenance and operational support. Dutch, Indonesian, Australian and American personnel consequently worked together within a complex multinational organisation.
This portal brings together DACC research about the squadrons, transport services, naval aviation, aircraft, Australian bases and the people who participated in these operations. Additional articles and personal stories will be added as research continues.
Historical background
The Dutch aviation presence in Australia arose directly from the collapse of the Allied defence of the Netherlands East Indies.
The broader history is covered in:
- The fall of the Netherlands East Indies, March 1942
- The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command—1942
- Netherlands and Netherlands East Indies Forces in Australia during World War II
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General overview
- Dutch air force activities in Australia during World War II
- Working inventory of Dutch military and civil personnel, ships and aircraft in wartime Australia
Evacuation, organisation and training
The evacuation from the Netherlands East Indies was followed by the difficult task of rebuilding Dutch military aviation. Initial training took place in Australia before many students and instructors were transferred to the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School at Jackson, Mississippi. Returning graduates subsequently provided personnel for Dutch squadrons operating from Australia and Netherlands New Guinea.
- Building Dutch Air Power in World War II
- The Java–Broome evacuation route, February and March 1942
- The evacuation of the Netherlands East Indies Flying Schools to Australia
- The Netherlands East Indies Aircraft and Personnel Pool—Canberra and Bundaberg, 1943–1946
- No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF training at Nowra, 1942
Australian personnel and Dutch–Australian cooperation
- RAAF members serving aboard Netherlands East Indies aircraft—archival documents
- Jeff Crosbie—Australian gunner with No. 18 Squadron
No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 18 Squadron was formed at Canberra in April 1942. Its Dutch and Netherlands East Indies aircrew flew American-supplied B-25 Mitchell bombers, while the RAAF provided much of the squadron’s ground organisation and operational support.
After training and maritime patrol duties, the squadron moved to the Northern Territory. From McDonald and Batchelor airfields it conducted bombing, reconnaissance and anti-shipping operations against Japanese targets throughout the eastern Netherlands East Indies. In 1945 the squadron moved to Balikpapan.
- No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF during World War II
- No. 18 Squadron moves to McDonald Airfield, 1942–1943
- Between duty and desperation: the treason case within No. 18 Squadron
- Harry Burgers: decorated air gunner, wartime prisoner and Dutch migrant to Cowra
- Dutch squadron choir in wartime Australia: voices of resilience and diplomacy
- Annual reunions of No. 18 Squadron
- No. 18 Squadron artefacts and B-25 remains in Darwin
Nos. 119 and 120 Squadrons
Plans were developed in 1943 for a second B-25 Mitchell bomber unit, designated No. 119 Squadron. Difficulties involving personnel, aircraft, Australian support and changing operational requirements prevented it from becoming operational.
No. 120 Squadron was formed at Canberra in December 1943. Equipped with P-40 Kittyhawks, it deployed to Merauke in southern Netherlands New Guinea. The squadron defended the strategically important Merauke area and supported the Allied advance through New Guinea and the Netherlands East Indies.
- No. 119 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF: the Dutch bomber squadron that never became operational
- No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF: Dutch Kittyhawks over New Guinea
- Nos. 18 and 120 Squadrons during the Western Australian Emergency, March 1944
- The strategic position of Merauke during World War II
Military air transport and No. 19 Squadron
The Netherlands East Indies military air-transport organisation drew upon experienced personnel from KNILM and KLM. Archerfield Airport in Brisbane became its principal Australian centre.
Dutch transport crews operated courier, supply, medical-evacuation and personnel flights between Australia, New Guinea and other parts of the Southwest Pacific. Following Japan’s surrender, their aircraft also carried relief supplies and evacuated former prisoners and civilian internees.
- Netherlands East Indies military air transport services in Australia, 1942–1947
- The Dutch at Archerfield Airport, Brisbane
- Archerfield Memories—including the Netherlands East Indies Transport Service
- Joop Gijzemijter: technical superintendent of the NEI Transport Service at Archerfield
- KNILM and its Australian connection
- Charleville’s role in the Dutch–Australian aviation connection
- From Java to Charleville: the extraordinary wartime journey of the Douglas DC-5 Wakago
- The ML-KNIL Dakota crash in Moreton Bay, 1947
- A Dutch Dakota crash and a remarkable survival story in the Northern Territory, 1947
- Samuel Jacobs and the Dakota crash near Mossman
- From Wielewaal to VH-ANR: a Dutch DC-3 preserved in Queensland
Royal Netherlands Navy aviation and flying boats
The Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service—the Marine Luchtvaartdienst—operated Dornier Do 24 and Catalina flying boats throughout the Netherlands East Indies.
Many aircraft and crews escaped to Australia during the Japanese invasion. Several Dutch flying boats were destroyed during the Japanese attack on Broome on 3 March 1942. Surviving aircraft and personnel subsequently operated from Australia or continued to Ceylon, where they contributed to No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF.
- Royal Netherlands Navy flying-boat operations from Australia, 1942–1945
- The Dutch Dorniers in Australia: flying boats in exile during World War II
- From Pearl Harbor to Broome: Dutch seaplanes and the shifting tides of the Pacific War
- The Drama of Broome, 3 March 1942
- The Dutch flying boat behind MacArthur: identifying a Dornier on the Brisbane River
- The secret operations of Australian and Dutch flying-boat crews
- A Dutch flying boat remembered: the Dornier Do 24 engine at Broome
- From Dutch flying boat to houseboat: the surviving Dornier Do 24K at Lake Boga
- Gerard Lemmens: the Dornier emergency landing that saved its evacuees from the Broome air raid
Aircraft and operations
The Dutch air services in Australia used—or were associated with—an extraordinary variety of aircraft. These included B-25 Mitchell bombers, P-40 Kittyhawk fighters, C-47 Dakotas, Dornier Do 24 and Catalina flying boats, Lockheed transports and former civilian airliners.
Some aircraft ordered and paid for by the Netherlands East Indies were diverted to American, British or Australian forces after the fall of Java.
- B-25 bombers ordered by the Dutch ended up with the USAAF
- B-25 Mitchell N5-128: from early squadron service to museum memory
- B-25 Mitchell N5-185 “Lienke”: a Dutch aircraft, a personal story
- The loss of B-25 Mitchell N5-140: a Dutch bomber tragedy off Darwin
- Captain Cornelis Keesmaat and the crash of N5-156 near Darwin
- Ditching of a Dutch B-25 Mitchell carrying money near Broome, October 1945
- Fred “Pulk” Pelder and the restored B-25 Mitchell
- The Dutch Douglas DC-5 aircraft in World War II: four aircraft, four wartime fates
- Dutch-ordered DB-7/A-20 aircraft during World War II
- Three Dutch emergency landings in the Northern Territory in one day
- A Dutch Lockheed crash-lands near Katherine
- Leaflet flights from Australia to Java
Airfields and bases
Dutch military aviation operated through a network of Australian bases. Archerfield was the principal transport, technical and administrative centre. Canberra/Fairbairn was central to the formation and training of the combat squadrons. No. 18 Squadron operated from McDonald and Batchelor, with Pell and Gould providing maintenance, dispersal and support facilities.
- The Dutch at Archerfield Airport, Brisbane
- The Dutch at Batchelor Airport in the Northern Territory
- World War II airfields in the Top End used by the Dutch
- No. 18 Squadron moves to McDonald Airfield, 1942–1943
- Pell Airfield—maintenance support for Dutch operations
- Gould Airfield: supporting Dutch–Australian operations from Batchelor
- No. 18 Squadron training at Nowra, 1942
- The Netherlands East Indies Aircraft and Personnel Pool—Canberra and Bundaberg
- Charleville’s role in the Dutch–Australian aviation connection
- The strategic position of Merauke during World War II
Personal stories
Behind the squadrons and aircraft were Dutch, Indonesian, Indo-European, Australian and American pilots, navigators, bombardiers, wireless operators, air gunners, engineers, technicians and ground personnel. Their individual accounts reveal both the dangers of combat and transport operations and the personal relationships created through Allied cooperation.
No. 18 Squadron personnel
- B.J. Fiedeldij—commander of No. 18 Squadron
- Gerard Johan Lugt—flight commander
- Hans de Vries—flight lieutenant
- Joop van Doorn—radio operator, telegraphist and navigator
- Interview with Dirk Stellema—No. 18 Squadron pilot
- David Groen—No. 18 Squadron
- Max Horstink—bombardier and Timor guerrilla fighter
- Guus Hagers, “Lienke” and a forgotten story
- Fred “Pulk” Pelder and the restored B-25 Mitchell
- Some members of No. 18 Squadron
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Other aviation personnel
- Dirk Bodemeijer—technical officer with No. 120 Squadron
- Gus Winckel—Dutch wartime pilot remembered in Moruya
- Bernhard Jan Ruesink: Dutch military aviation between the Netherlands East Indies, Australia and Indonesia
- Marinus Willem Reith: from the Netherlands East Indies to Allied aviation training and wartime Australia
- Willy Erkelens: Dutch military aviation between the Netherlands East Indies, Australia and America
- Iwan Smirnoff—Dutch-Russian pilot
- Evert Herman van Hummel: from KNILM’s final escape flight to a Catalina crash
- Evert Herman van Hummel photographic collection
- Gerard Lemmens and the Dornier emergency landing before the Broome air raid
- Joop Gijzemijter: technical superintendent of the NEI Transport Service at Archerfield
Casualties, remembrance and aviation heritage
Dutch, Indonesian and Australian personnel lost their lives during combat missions, training, transport flights and accidents. Their service is remembered through cemeteries, memorials, museums, restored aircraft, family collections and squadron associations.
- Dutch and Australian airmen lost in No. 18 Squadron accidents in the Northern Territory
- DACC participation in the RAAF and Allied Air Forces memorial service, Brisbane
- The Catalina at Perth’s Aviation Heritage Museum and its Dutch wartime context
- Broome Historical Museum and the Dutch wartime presence
- From Dutch flying boat to houseboat: the surviving Dornier Do 24K at Lake Boga
- No. 18 Squadron artefacts and B-25 remains in Darwin
- Annual reunions of No. 18 Squadron
Continuing research
This portal brings together research undertaken by the DACC and its contributors. The collection will continue to develop as additional records and family material become available.
We particularly welcome information about:
- No. 120 Squadron and its operations from Merauke;
- the Netherlands East Indies military transport services and No. 19 Squadron;
- Indonesian and Indo-European personnel serving in Dutch aviation units;
- Australian ground personnel attached to the Dutch squadrons;
- Dutch naval aviation detachments in Australia;
- aircrew, technical personnel and their families; and
- surviving photographs, diaries, letters, logbooks and service records.
People with additional information or relevant family material are invited to contact the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre.
