Bodo Sandberg Lt . Colonel Jhr . Bodo Sandberg ( Rotterdam , September 23 , 1914 - Bentveld , May 2 , 2005 ) , fighter pilot in the Royal Netherlands Air Force and “ Engelandvaarder ” during World War II . He was awarded the Cross of Merit and the Airman ' s Cross for his bravery during the German invasion of May 1940 . Biography . From early childhood on , Bodo Sandberg so much wanted to fly that , at the age of 16 , he built his own airplane . He had no money for an engine so he built himself a glider . When he finished it , a friendly pilot in an old bi - plane on a local airfield pulled him up in the air and he flew . In those early days you couldn ' t just become a pilot . If you wanted to fly you had to join the Air Force . And so he did . On August 26 , 1939 , Bodo Sandberg made history in Dutch aviation : he made the first successful belly landing . On May 13 , 1940 , three days after the Germans had invaded the Netherlands , Sandberg was called into action . Because the Nazis had destroyed almost all the planes of the Dutch Air Force , Sandberg had to fly one of the few Fokker G - I fighters that were still airworthy . Along with one other G - 1 fighter , he had to protect the last Dutch bomber , a Fokker T - 5 , against a deluge of German Messerschmitts . The small squadron ' s task was to bomb the Moerdijkbruggen , Holland ' s largest bridges over the wide estuary of the Haringvliet , to hold back the German invasion . Just beyond Dordrecht , the squadron was attacked by nine Messerschmitt fighters , three of which attacked the T - 5 . The other six split up and attacked the two G - 1s . The T5 went down in flames and crashed in the Grienden along the Noord , near Ridderkerk . The other G - 1 was also shot down and crashed in a polder at Nieuw - Lekkerland , killing pilot Sgt . Paul Schoute . Sandberg , wounded , managed to escape back to base at Schiphol airport . Escape to England and fighting on two fronts . Immediately after the German invasion Sandberg tried to escape from Nazi occupied Holland to reach England from where he could continue his fight against the invaders . His first attempt was with four others ( Ch . A . den Hoed , G . Reels , E . A . Plate and J . Versteegh ) . On their way through Belgium , France and Spain to Portugal ( from where they could fly to England ) , they made it as far as Poligny , just east of Paris , but there they were betrayed and arrested . They ended up in a German prisoner of war camp outside Lyon . However , they escaped from that prison camp by stealing the camp commander ' s car . They were starved and sick , but all five made it back to the Netherlands . Sandberg , however , didn ' t give up and made a second attempt . This time he escaped from Nazi occupied Holland with three fellow fighter pilots from the Dutch Air Force Jan Bosch , Faam Janssens and A . C . H . Kanters , and this time they made it , all the way to England . From England Bodo was sent to the USA where in 1944 he trained on US fighter planes ( the Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk ) at the Royal Netherlands Military Flying - School in Jackson , Mississippi . After completing his training , he was sent to Australia and New Guinea in the South Pacific , where he fought against the Japanese . As the Second World War was entering its final and fiercest phase , Bodo Sandberg came home to Holland from the USA , Australia and New Guinea , albeit for a fleeting moment , as he was sent out into action again , this time to Dutch Indonesia , Singapore and Ceylon ( now Malaysia ) . In February 1946 he flew from Batavia ( now Jarakrta ) , via Singapore to Penang where he worked with Peter Tazelaar , one of Holland ’ s most heroic resistance fighters and fellow " Engelandvaarder " . In 1947 Bodo was awarded the “ Ereteken voor Orde en Vrede 1947 ” for his contributions to Holland ’ s efforts to re - establish peace and order in Dutch - Indonesia after the Japanese capitulation . Jhr . Bodo Sandberg fought enemy action on two fronts , survived it all , and lived to be 90 . Sandberg was awarded the Cross of Merit and the Airman ' s Cross , both Knight ’ s Orders , by H . R . H . Wilhelmina , Queen of the Netherlands . After the war . After the war , Bodo stayed active in the Dutch Air Force as a fighter pilot and flight instructor . He was Commander of a squadron of Supermarine Spitfires in the Dutch Air Force Base “ Soesterberg ” . After Sandberg was injured in a crash with a Spitfire at Soesterberg , Sandberg became Air Attaché for the four Nordic countries in the Dutch Embassy in Oslo , Norway . Sandberg completed his more than 30 year Air Force career as Commander of the Dutch Air Force Base Ypenburg . Military and Knight ' s Orders . Sandberg ' s awards : On the left side , two pilot wings of the Royal Dutch Air Force , a Pilot - Observer - wing of the ML - KNIL , and an embroidered Pilot - Observer - wing of MLD - model .