De Mitchell N5-136 van het 18e squadron, met zijn bemanning vlak voor een nieuwe missie. (Foto J. Ketting via G. Casius). the RAAF during the war. Some of those men were Dutch, and I am honoured that I have been invited here today by the RAAF Association to pay a special tribute to these Dutch military personnel who served as part of the RAAF in the Pacific War. Their story is not well known, even in their own homeland. After the fall of the Dutch East Indies elements of the Dutch East Indies Army and the Royal Netherlands Navy came to Australia to continue the fight against Japan. Many of the Army personnel were from the Flying Corps. The Fleet Air Arm also evacuated personnel and aircraft. These aviators joined with Flying Corps personnel already in Australia to meet B-25 Mitchell bombers being ferried out from the US, eventually becoming the nucleus of two combat squadrons - number 18 Squadron with Mitchell bombers and 120 Squadron with Kittyhawk fighters. P-40's van 120 squadron op weg. Both squadrons were formed here in Canberra as part of the RAAF and later operated in New Guinea and the areas to Darwin's north and west. With time, some 700 Dutchmen 10

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