knilm

The British saw a Dutch postal service to Australia as undermining British prestige. The flight of De Uiver also needs to be looked at within the geopolitical spectrum. On the one hand, the Dutch had shown that a faster service could be established. On the other hand, the Dutch success made the British even more obstructive. It took until 1938 before a regular passenger and mail service could be established. Flights from NEI to Australia stopped once the war reached NEI in 1942. The last regular KNILM flight to Archerfield arrived on 19 February 1942. This was at the same time an evacuation flight that brought senior KNILM staff to Australia, weeks before the Japanese occupation of the NEI. Soon after the war, the resumption of the commercial KNILM service from NEI was planned, depending on the development of the political situation in NEI. Already the Dutch 19 Squadron at Archerfield (see below) had taken delivery of a Douglas Skymaster airplane from America, and two more arrived soon after that, to be used for the Indies run. These planes became a temporary nucleus for a revived KNILM service. Source: paulbuddehistory.com/travelogues/the-dutch-at-archerfield...

Douglas DC-5-510 c/n 424, seen here as KLM West Indies PJ-AIW 'Wakago'. Ex G-AFYI, PH-AXA, later PK-ADD with KNILM, then to the Australian civil registry as VH-CXB. It was damaged in a forced landing on November 6, 1942 east of Charleville, Qld, Australia, and used for spares for VH-CXC. At one point it received the USAAF designation C-110-DE serial number 44-83231. According to this online history, this aircraft "...whilst on a goodwill visit to Australia in April 1941 had the distinction of being the first aircraft in Australia to have a nosewheel..." See another photo in these markings here.

Hi. Nice poster. I was wondering if it would be okay if I could download this and use this for my blog? Thank you very much. Regards.

Smalspoorbaan Fan Not a problem to use it for a blog, please credit us and thanks for asking.

A snapshot by Indiana Jones, I presume.

Yard sale to pay for fuel to fly to Indonesia.

That's not freight, but spare parts and survival gear. And S. Elleman is on the left and J.J. Moll int he middle.