# 120(NEI)sqn



## Wildcat (Jan 9, 2009)

During WWII there were two combined Dutch/Australian squadrons that served under the RAAF in the Pacific. No.18(NEI)sqn (B25's) is generally the better known of the two, there even being a restored B-25 flying in Europe representing one of the squadrons' aircraft. On the other hand 120(NEI) sqn seems to be almost forgotten, just try finding good info on them and you'll see what I mean! Anyway in my efforts to find good info on this squadron I decided to write a short history, mainly for my own knowledge and secondly hopefully to keep their memory alive amongst us WWII buffs.
Marcel helped me out early last year with some stuff regardin 120 sqn, so hopefully you find it of some interest mate.
Anyway here is a PDF file (Alex Terry ) of a brief history of the squadron written by me. All comments/Criticism welcome.

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## 109ROAMING (Jan 9, 2009)

Bloody Marvalous! 8) 

Really interesting read !

Thanks for sharing


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## Gnomey (Jan 9, 2009)

Excellent stuff, really interesting read.


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## Marcel (Jan 9, 2009)

Great work Andy and thanks for doing this  I haven't read it in detail, but I'll do that when I get home. 

120(NEI) is nicknamed "Forgotten squadron" here by the people who know it. It is virtually unknown even here in The Netherlands.


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## Airframes (Jan 9, 2009)

Great bit of work Andy, well done mate!


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## Heinz (Jan 9, 2009)

Awesome stuff Andy.


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## Wildcat (Jan 11, 2009)

Many thanks for the feedback guys!


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## Airframes (Jan 11, 2009)

Great pics Andy; I'll PM you with some thoughts.


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## Marcel (Jan 11, 2009)

Also posted before, in Dutch, but some nice color film footage:
Publieke Omroep: Generieke Mediaplayer


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## Wildcat (Jan 15, 2009)

Guys for anyone interested, I've updated the above file with some extra text, corrections and some pics and a map thrown in for good measure. 
Feel free to have a second look.
A public thanks to terry for all the help and support!


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## Heinz (Jan 16, 2009)

I'll take a look at it tomorrow mate!

Those photos are great! I'd like to delve into this subject quite a bit. 

Thanks mate!


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## Marshall_Stack (Jan 29, 2009)

Just curious, where did the pilots come from? This squadron formed at the end of 1943 and the Dutch had been at war from almost the beginning.


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## Marcel (Jan 30, 2009)

Marshall_Stack said:


> Just curious, where did the pilots come from? This squadron formed at the end of 1943 and the Dutch had been at war from almost the beginning.



Most of them were former KNIL pilots, flying fighters in the Dutch East Indies. But at least one had been flying in the ML, May 1940, after which he fled to the UK and ended up in 120 NEI.


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## Wildcat (Feb 3, 2009)

Also worth noting was that these pilots were trained in the US at Jackson AB in Mississippi where the Dutch had a flying school.


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## Marcel (Feb 4, 2009)

Hi Andy,

Below some photo's which I found in the Dutch Airforce museum in Soesterberg (made a photo of the photo's for you ). One of the pictures, you can see Commander Maurenbrecher talking to his pilots.


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## Wildcat (Feb 4, 2009)

Gold! Many thanks Marcel!  I've also com across this book which looks interesting AviationMegastore.com
Comes out later this year.


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## Marcel (Feb 4, 2009)

Yup, those are good, in Dutch and English. I have a few of them.


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## Heinz (Feb 5, 2009)

Veery interesting Marcel


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## Nicolaas (Dec 27, 2013)

Hello
The first post on this wonderful thread.
Just finished reading the book, The forgotten squadron by Rene Wittert.
Rene was a B25 pilot/operations officer in RAAF 18 squadron, an instructor in the US and a lot more. Also a very good friend of Hans Maurenbrecher.
In this book he tells his life from the start as a fighter pilot student at Soesterberg, a test pilot at Fokker, then a civil pilot on dc 3 in Indonesia till the war start and he become an Airforce pilot on the Mitchell.
Lots of facts, pictures and stories about the operations and what happens to the mixed crews and friend pilots during ww2 operations.

If I am correct, the Raaf 18 (B25) 19 (Dacota) and 120 (Curtiss P40) were NEI squadrons with Dutch, Indonesian and Australian crew/ground crew.
It is sad that here in Holland the war against the nazi is better known than what happend in the far east, not only the Airforce but also the MLD (Navy airforce)

So lots of thanks for starting this thread and your pdf. Great work :thumbs

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## Marcel (Dec 27, 2013)

Nicolaas said:


> Hello
> The first post on this wonderful thread.
> Just finished reading the book, The forgotten squadron by Rene Wittert.
> Rene was a B25 pilot/operations officer in RAAF 18 squadron, an instructor in the US and a lot more. Also a very good friend of Hans Maurenbrecher.
> ...


Yup, that's a great book, I have that as well. Maybe sad, but not strange that the war in Europe is better known. It was closer to home.

Oh, by the way, welcome here, nice to see a fellow countryman.


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## Wildcat (Dec 27, 2013)

Nicolaas said:


> Hello
> The first post on this wonderful thread.
> Just finished reading the book, The forgotten squadron by Rene Wittert.
> Rene was a B25 pilot/operations officer in RAAF 18 squadron, an instructor in the US and a lot more. Also a very good friend of Hans Maurenbrecher.
> ...



Thanks Nicolaas and welcome to the site mate! 
I'll have to get a copy of the book you mentioned, hopefully it's available in English? If your interested here is another book that looks like it would be a good read, its on my shopping list for the new year 
Adventures of a Flying Dutchman


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## Nicolaas (Dec 28, 2013)

Thanks Marcel
btw, nice pictures on your photo site.


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## Nicolaas (Dec 28, 2013)

Wildcat said:


> Thanks Nicolaas and welcome to the site mate!
> I'll have to get a copy of the book you mentioned, hopefully it's available in English? If your interested here is another book that looks like it would be a good read, its on my shopping list for the new year
> Adventures of a Flying Dutchman


Thank you Wildcat.
I do have a copy of RJ Idzerda's book. It is a very good read. I have met mr Idzerda, he was the flag officer (2 star admiral) of the Royal Navy Airforce, and a very good pilot.
He ended his flying carreer on the Neptune, my favorite plane of all times 
Idzerda was a fighter pilot, while Wittert started as fighter pilot, but flies the Mitchell during ww2.

I do not know if the book by Rene Wittert has been translated. It was first published in 1978
Edit: found this link http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=33302, so it seems that there is only a dutch version of that book.

I wish you all a very happy 2014, with lots of good books.


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## Wildcat (Dec 29, 2013)

Hi Nicolaas, shame that book is not in English as I would love to read it. You were very lucky to meet Mr Idzerda!


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## anzac1915 (May 29, 2014)

Here's another 120 NEI Squadron P-40 "Wham Bam" from the SDASM archives.

Mark


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## Wildcat (May 29, 2014)

Cool, thanks for posting!


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## vikingBerserker (May 29, 2014)

I agree.


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## JJV (Jan 22, 2015)

Hi Wildcat, great piece you wrote in the PDF file! I just wanted to say that my late grandfather was a member of the 120 NEI Sqn as well and he used to tell me all kind of (war) stories from that time. His name is Theo (Dick) Gottschalk and I saw him on one of the pics in this thread.
Keep up the good work and they should never be forgotten as they are a part of Dutch war history.

Regards,

JJV


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## Wildcat (Jan 23, 2015)

Hi JJV, thanks and welcome! I see your Grandfather was with the squadron right from the beginning and flew operationally from Meruake. Here are some photo's of your Granddad from the Dutch profile book "Curtiss P-40E/N Part1" by Max Schep and Luuk Boerman. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner right now, so I took photo's of the pics for you in case you haven't seen them before. I apologise for the bad quality. If you don't have it, I recommend the above mentioned book

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## Viridianne (May 7, 2017)

Thanks for the article, Wildcat.

I wonder if anyone have more information about the crew that died in the crash of C-47 Dakota near Mossman on 7 September 1944. Specifically I'm looking for information on my great-great uncle, Bernard van Aken, who died in this crash.

I've been obsessed about him since discovering from my great-aunt in Holland. I even went to visit the war memorial at Cairns cemetery during Anzac day 2017. I hope to visit Mossman Gorge in the future maybe to see where the plane may have crashed.


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## Graeme (May 16, 2017)

New book out on No.18 Squadron...


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## Wildcat (May 17, 2017)

Hi Graeme, I was very excited to see the release of this book and then I read this review Aircrew Book Review: Bomber Boys - Marianne Van Velzen
The fact the author has used fictional characters to tell the story of 18 squadron has really turned me off from buying the book. If it was a straight up squadron history, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Tell me what you think of it after you have read it.


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## Graeme (May 18, 2017)

Wildcat said:


> Hi Graeme, I was very excited to see the release of this book and then I read this review Aircrew Book Review: Bomber Boys - Marianne Van Velzen
> The fact the author has used fictional characters to tell the story of 18 squadron has really turned me off from buying the book. If it was a straight up squadron history, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Tell me what you think of it after you have read it.



Hi Andy.

Damn - I didn't realise that. It was an impulse buy at Kmart for $19.
Now looking at the "Author's Note" I see what you mean. A little disappointing, but there are some excellent photos in it.
I'll have a closer look after I finish my current book - "1942" by Bob Wurth.

Cheers.


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## parsifal (May 18, 2017)

excellent work fellas. learned a lot. Many thanks


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## MOusemaid (Sep 18, 2021)

Thank you for the article. Loved the PDF doc with lots of information about the 120Sqn NEI. The Australian component were mostly non flight crew. Mechanics, ground maintenance etc. They included my father Keith Rose LAC. The 120 was Dad's favourite unit, many of the Australian crew were from Sydney NSW, and every year they marched in the ANZAC Day march, in the early 1060's Mum made the squadron a huge banner to march under. Designed on ANZAC day at the post march lunch which was held every year at Bexley RSL in Sydney NSW. By the mid 1980's there was only a few of them left and once my Dad passed away in 1985 my family lost touch with the few remaining Veterans.

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