Evening star., 1942-02-02

IIlOuSdHQ H1leS long, IL leu tnTOuSn
Turkey, Syria, Irak, Iran and Brit
ish India territories where the air
plane had hardly yet made its ap-
pearance and where most Of the
landing grounds consisted of beaches
or race courses.
Beacons, meteorological services,
and all the other now so common
aids to flying were totally lacking.
Yet so well had the fight been pre-
pared and so skilled were the Dutch
pilots that they succeeded in guid-
ing their single-motored craft safely
over the deserts, the seas and the
jungles to its destination In far
away Java.
Black Was First Passenger.
This first pioneering flight was
followed three years later by an
other. This time the kim felt sure
enough of itself to accept a pas
senger, the famous American trav-
eler, the late Van Lear Black, who.
with his valet, was flown from Ans
terdam to Batavia in 16 days and
flown back again in 18 days, BY
now, the imagination of the Dutch
airmen and the Dutch public In
general had been fired to such ex-
tent that competition developed to
shorten the journey to Batavia with
every fight.
AS a result of these successful ex-
periments, a regular Amsterdam
Batavia service was established in
1880. At that time the trip with
the relatively slow-flying Fokker
machines still took around two
weeks. Five years later this had
been reduced five and a half days
and the frequency Of the service
had been increased to twice weekly.
AS early as 1884, K. L. NJ, fully
aware of the necessity Of speed, and
unimpeded by narrow considerations
of national pride. decided to switch
from the Holland-built Fokker ma
chimes to American-built Douglas
planes. The Dutch had realized
the value of these American planes
in the hazardous Melbourne race
from England to Australia, when
Dutch flyers came in second with
a large Douglas transport, beating
any number of competitors who
had joined in the race with much
faster speed planes.
Pilots Became Hollands Heroes.
New commercial aifdromes sprung
up all oyer Holland, while the To-
cal point Of the Dutch air lines.
the Schiphol airdrome at Amster-
dam. became one Of the best
equipped in the world. far out
ranking both Croydon and lie Bour-
get of those days. Private flying
clubs multiplied and in all parts
of the Netherlands. in the Far East
and In Hollands West Indian pos
sessions. sub 7idiarieS Of the x. j. NJ.
we're established until at last all
these territories had not only their
own network of air services but
were also connected with each other
BY Dutch air liners. The great
pilots of the K. L. NJ. like Mol
and Parmentier-not to mention
a host of others-became the ma
tional heroes of modern Holland.
Then came May 10. 1910. In two
days Of fighting, Hollands small
military air force, which at that
time did not count more than
couple of hundred first line planes.
went down fighting. though not un-
til Dutch airmen and anti-aircraft
gunners had shot down close to
$50 NaZi machines.
Meanwhile. pilots in number of
civil and military training planes
managed to escape to England, On
that last fateful day, May IA, scores
of Dutch apprentice pilots managed
somehow to fly their old trainers
to England. Before then a number
of men of the K. L. NJ. had succeeded
in flying their commercial trans
ports out of Holland.
Steal Planes Under Naxis' Noses.
Even after German mastery Of
Holland was completed, number Of
Dutch airmen. clipped as their
wings might me, succeeded in taking
to the air again and landing their
machines on the other side Of the
Channel. Some stole planes from
under the Germans noses, so that
the Germans were forced to issue
an order instructing their own flyers
to unscrew their propellers every
night. Other Dutch airmen en-
ployed more elaborate strategems
to follow their comrades. Thus in
Amsterdam a small group of K. l.. NJ
pilots who had to go on working
for the Germans. in order to eat,
paraded themselves as Dutch Nazis
until they had won the confidence
Of their German masters to such a
degree that they were allowed to
take up the German machines for
test flights with a big enough load
of gasoline to enable them to fly
to England, which they did.
1t was not long, therefore, before
the Netherlands government In
England was able to form the nu-
cleus Of a new Dutch air force
operating in conjunction with the
r. A. F. At the same time a number
of trained Dutch pilots were sent
to the East Indies. What is more,
even during these critical times.
when the demand for flying per-
sonnel has grown by leaps and
bounds. Hollands civil aviation, en-
bodied in the K. L. NJ. managed to
keep its machines flying.
Dutch commercial planes operate
a service on the vital route from
London to Lisbon. Dutch CONNER
cial planes still maintain contact
with the East Indies by a regular
service from Batavia to the new
western terminus at LYDIA, Pales-
tine Dutch planes still operate in
the West Indies, and, finally, Dutch
commercial pilots regularly main
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