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Aviation of World War II |
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Royal Netherlands Air Force in World War II
The Royal Netherlands Air Force (Dutch Koninklijke Luchtmacht) is one of the branches of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Created as the Army Aviation Group on July 1, 1913. They took part in the Second World War. Since March 1953, they have existed as a separate branch of the armed forces. By the time Hitler's "blitzkrieg" began on the Western Front, the Dutch Air Force had 29 combat-ready Fokkers D.XXI. They were consolidated into three squadrons: 1st, stationed at De Cooi airbase, 2nd, based at the capital's Schiphol airfield, and 5th, in The Hague. On May 10, 1940 at 4 o'clock in the morning, the 1st took off on alarm. “Fokker” was inferior to “Messerschmitt” in all respects, except for horizontal maneuverability, and the Dutch took advantage of this only advantage. They managed to drag the enemy into the battle on bends at low altitude, in which the speed and rate of climb of the German vehicles did not play a decisive role. At the time of the German invasion of Holland, there were 10 T.V. Fokkers in the BomVa (Bomber Air Group) based at Schiphol Airfield. Schiphol Airbase was one of the first Dutch targets to be hit by a German airstrike. At 3.50 am on May 10, 1940, the first bombs fell on the airfield, damaging three Fokkers. By the end of the first day of hostilities, only two combat-ready aircraft remained in the BomVa. Attempts to bombard the bridges were unsuccessful. It should be noted two successful bombing raids on clusters Ju-52 left by the Germans at the captured airfields after the landing. On May 14, on the fifth day of the war, Holland surrendered. |