120(NEI)sqn

[Wildcat]

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.

 

[109ROAMING]

Bloody Marvalous! 8)

Really interesting read !

Thanks for sharing

 

[Gnomey]

Excellent stuff, really interesting read.

 

[Marcel]

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.

 

[Airframes]

Great bit of work Andy, well done mate!

 

[Heinz]

Awesome stuff Andy.

 

[Wildcat]

Many thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[Airframes]

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

 

[Marcel]

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

 

[Wildcat]

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!

 

[Heinz]

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!

 

[Marshall_Stack]

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.

 

[Marcel]

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.

 

[Wildcat]

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

 

[Marcel]

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.

 

[Wildcat]

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

 

[Marcel]

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

 

[Heinz]

Veery interesting Marcel

 

[Nicolaas]

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

 

[Marcel]

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

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.