Difference between revisions of "Manschot Adriaan"

Revision as of 23:38, 31 July 2012

The following story was written by Piet Van Den Berg, a relative of Adriaan Manschot.

Adriaan Manschot - Military Sergeant Airman of the M.L.D. (Dutch Marine Navy)

Adriaan Manschot was one of the pilots of the Dutch MLD (Marine Navy) arriving at the Mallala RAAF training base on the 4th March 1942. Just five days later the Dutch Indies would surrender to the enemy invading their country. They were initially told to acquire more aircraft from Australia to be able to defend their country. Now they were stuck in Australia, a country which was threatened itself from the north.It never came that far fortunately. However on the 3rd March 1942, there was an attack on Dutch refugees in Broome, Western Australia, and 88 people died and at least 22 airplanes were destroyed.

Adriaan had been in the Dutch-Indies following the German invasion in Holland, beginning of May 1940. He enrolled for service in the MLD in England, and was transferred to the Dutch-Indies. The Japanese expansion in the Far East was of great concern, and the MLD was building up strength to withstand a possible attack. Adriaan acquired his first airman’s license in March 1941. Later he fulfilled service with airplane groups 2 and 5, equipped with Dornier 24 K seaplanes. They had different stations, but one of the last ones was at Tondano Lake, North Sulawesi. When the war started on the 8th of December 1941, he had to fly reconnaissance missions to monitor where the enemy was. At any price the oil wells of Tarakan should not fall into the hands of the enemy. When it became obvious that Tarakan was to be attacked, the oil pumps, pipes and equipment were destroyed in time. When the Dornier 24K seaplanes were attacked at the Tondano base, there was destruction, and there were wounded crewmembers. Adriaan went into the water while under attack of enemy fire and rescued a few of them. Later he managed to travel back to Surabaya airbase Morokrembangan, which at that time was near the seaport Tanjung Perak. On the 19th of February a large group of MLD personnel was evacuated by ship ss “Tsjinegara”. That ship managed to arrive safely in South Australia on the 4th of March 1942. The port of Adelaide was entered and a large number of the dutch pilots were stationed at Mallala. Although the purpose was that training would commence in the first place, it was than decided to move to the USA, where training facilities at the RNMFS (Royal Netherlands Military Flying School) would take over. Afterwards many of these trained pilots ended up in the Pacific theatre to fight against the Japanese on B-25 Mitchells, others, like Adriaan, became a pilot in Squadron 320, which operated first from England, and later from Melsbroek (Belgium), in the European theatre.

Adriaan Manschot died during a mission when another plane hit his, while he was in front position of the formation. His tail section broke off, and the plane crashed near Tienen, Belgium. That was on the 9th of February 1945. Adriaan Manschot was born on the 10th of May 1916 in the little village of Jaarsveld, along the River Lek. They were known to be a smart family, always looking for business, and their character was sort of courageous. Some acquired higher positions in companies.

Sources

• Piet Van den Berg
• Holland.

Adriaan Manschot

Dornier 24 K Sea Plane

ss "Tsjinegara"

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