FS 2004
After the Dutch were defeated by the Germans in May 1940, and the 5 dark years of occupation started, two Dutch squadron were formed inside the RAF, mainly from Dutch Naval aviation personnel, who had been able to escape from the Netherlands.
Although the squadron were part of the RAF, the aircraft they flew were paid for by the Dutch. The Lockheed Hudsons which arrived in October 1940 for 320 squadron, were paid by the Netherlands East Indies and half of them were named after cities in the Netherlands East Indies and the other half was named after places in the Netherlands where fierce battles with the Germans had been fought.
One of the aircraft was named Ypenburg after the airfield from the city of The Hague, which was recaptured from the Germans after it had been taken by German paratroopers.
This aircraft had a somewhat odd nose-art. A stork delivering a bomb in a diaper. The stork is part of the coat of arms of the city of The Hague. And in the Netherlands (among other countries) small children are told that storks deliver the babies, to avoid the nasty question “where do the babies come from?” And I think it is clear where the bomb comes from. Nose art were still rare as the RAF didn't really allow them in this stage of the war.
The aircraft was part of the second batch delivered to No 320 squadron. It arrived on 22 February 1941. Only three day later, on the 25 of February, when it took off from Carew Cheriton for a convoy control, it crashed due to wing icing, killing four of the five crew members. One of the crew members who died, the radio operator, came from my village.
The airfield Ypenburg remained in use until the mid-nineties. And was one of the key-airfields to reinforce the NATO troops in Europe in case of a Russian threat during the cold war. Now the area has turned into a large residential area. Only the original passenger terminal from 1936 and the post-war control tower remind to the airfield which once was there. I served at Ypenburg AB in the late seventies/early eighties.
I hope you've enjoyed this history lesson
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