
23 May 2019
#KNIL-ML #121sqn #122sqn #P51 #mustang #medan #tjililitan
Pictures relating tot 'Familie Bastiaans - de Indische takken'
The definitive version, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 two-stage two-speed supercharged engine (it sound’s like this.. or try 14 P-51 Mustangs Simultaneous Engine Run and Takeoffs) and was armed with six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2/AN Browning machine guns. [1] The wing racks fitted to the P-51D/P-51K series were strengthened and were able to carry up to 1,000 lb (450 kg) of ordnance, although 500 lb (230 kg) bombs were the recommended maximum load.
The P-51D became the most widely produced variant of the Mustang. [2]
40 P51Ds were transported by ship to Australia and assembled at NEI PEP ('Personel and Equipment Pool' in Bundaberg Australia.[3] [4] They were operated by 121 (Tjililitan, Batavia) and 122 Squadrons (Polonia, Medan)[5] of the KNIL Army Air Corps (KNIL-ML).
When the war against Japan ended[6], the Dutch Mustangs were used in a futile attempt to suppress the Indonesian nationalists. When Indonesia became independent on December 27, 1949, its air arm (the Angkatan Udara Republic Indonesia, or AURI) was slated to receive two squadrons of F-51D Mustangs from the departing Dutch.
In June of 1950, the Netherlands East Indies Air Force was officially disbanded and the surviving Mustangs were transferred to the Indonesian Air Force. Indonesian Mustangs participated in several internal conflicts and remained in service with the IAF until replaced by Russian fighters in 1959. [7]
121 Squadron was established at Tjililitan airport on 1 May 1946. The squadron took care of the relocation of personnel and equipment to Medan in October 1946 and it also handed over part of its ground staff and pilots to 122 Squadron.
[1/5] Boy-Durand (ontbloot bovenlijf) - P-51 + Sjaak Allards (Staand, 4de van links) Source: Boy Durand bij het 18e Squadron |
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122 Sqn was established in Tjililitan on 1 November 1946 as a ML-KNIL unit equipped with P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers.
It plays a small but not unimportant part in Dutch history in the former Netherlands East Indies. Based on Airbase 11VB Polonia - Medan, Sumatra.
Top row (L to R): Unknown (armory), unknown (armory), Becker (mechanic), Unknown, C.W. Bastiaans (mechanic’s boss), Captain Asjes (pilot), Servaas Gerardu “Vaas”, Sliedrecht (mechanic) Bottom row (L to R): Unknown (armory), Sergeant Boobie Haye (best pilot) > source: "Vaas" [5/39] P51_bastiaans |
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The photo of the group of men at the Lockheed Elektra was taken in Medan, at Polonia airport and probably around February '47.
CW Bastiaans (Grandpa) standing, 3rd from the left. Immediately behind him (bare torso) Wolf. Jack Vleugels Squatted Left. Middle bare torso possible or Den Hollander or F.M. van Beurden
There were 2 Lockheeds Electra active on 11VB Polonia.
An L-12 (Electra Junior, traffic execution, actually a 2-engine training aircraft) and an L-212, the military version of the L-12. The L-212 was mounted just above the wing just for the NL Air Force just above the plexiglass turret and it was armed. Furthermore, they were almost identical.
There was also an L-212 active on 11VB, with Serialno L-205. This military plane belonged to LuCoSu, Aviation Command Sumatra, the umbrella organization for all the squadrons based in Sumatra. It was used as a staff plane.
De L-12a, serial L2-39, registratie L2-102 (en later T-302) behoorde aan 122 sqn toe en werd als transporttoestel gebruikt. According to some sources, this plane was with the squadron until the end of January '47 and other sources say until the end of '47 and then moved to Andir / Kalidjati.
Lockheed 12, L2-38, photographed in 1985 at the Militaire Luchtvaart Museum at Soesterberg.