Although few in numbers, a handful of Netherlanders who made their way to Britain after escaping the Nazis made a significant mark in the air during World War Two. Graham Pitchfork recounts some of their stories
The roll of honour for 42 Dutch airmen awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in recognition of their gallantry is impressive – two of them received it twice. While seven were given the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), many more were the recipients of Dutch and British non-operational honours such as the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Many of these eminent airmen had escaped to Britain early in the war, when the gaze of the Nazis had turned to the Netherlands. On May 10, 1940, the bombers of the Luftwaffe’s Luftflotte 2 began their systematic destruction of Dutch airfields and they had one objective: obliterate the country’s military aircraft before they could strike back. At the time, the Netherlands’ Luchtvaartbrigade (Army Aviation Brigade) had 132 aircraft on strength – of which just 72 could be considered modern.
Although outnumbered, those aircraft and crews that survived the first onslaught fought valiantly against the overwhelmingly superior Luftwaffe (see Brief Candles in t…
