This folder contains a repaint for the Douglas A-20C by Milton Shupe and his team. It shows Douglas DB7 Boston D52 of the Royal Dutch East Indies Navy, Andir, 6 March 1942. In December 1941, the Dutch government ordered 32 Douglas Bostons for the defense of the Dutch Indies after the outbreak of war in the Pacific. These aircraft were destined for the MLD, or Dutch Naval Air Service. The aircraft were painted in RAF camouflage colors and received Dutch orange triangles on the fuselage and the underside of the wings, together with a serial consisting of a D with a number and the text KON.MARINE on the nose. The aircraft were crated and shipped to the Dutch East Indies, with the first six arriving in Java on the 27th of February 1942, just a day before the Japanese landings in Java. The crates were unloaded in Tjilatjap. It was decided to try and assemble a few aircraft on the spot, in the harbor of Tjilatjap, while three crates were sent to Andir by train. Despite Japanese bombing raids on the harbor, the MLD technicians managed to assemble two Bostons in the harbor, and on the morning of the 5th of March, Lt Burgerhout, a Catalina pilot, took of from an improvised runway withh D52 and flew to Tasikmalaja, where it was planned to fill the aircraft with fuel for the flight to Andir air base. However, no suitable fuel was found. Before the second Boston could be flown out, the 'runway' was destroyed by a second Japanese bomb raid, so the ground crew destroyed the aircraft. The aircraft at Tasikmalaja was destroyed on the 8th of March, just before the capitulation of the Dutch East Indies. Of the aircraft transported by train, one was assembled, and this fell intact into the hands of the Japanese, who later used it for flight evaluations. The other two aircraft were destroyed by their ground crews. The other 26 Bostons still underway were diverted to Australia, and these later flew with no 22 squadron of the RAAF.
Repaint by Jan Kees Blom, based on the paint kit by William Ellis.
Repaint by Jan Kees Blom, based on the paint kit by William Ellis.
