CARREER IN THE NAVY (until November 1950).

Period:  1945-1950.

Herewith an elaboration of Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the synopsis.

Already in May 1945 after a short period in which I assisted a Brittish ambulance team as an amateur interpreter I joined the Royal Dutch navy.  For me it was still impossible to return to Arnhem for this city was fully destroyed. After a short military training in Bergen-op-Zoom I worked in the Headquarters of the Navy in the Hague. Over there I more or less was involved in communication matters. A few months later I was transferred to the Hook of Holland (entrance harbour of Rotterdam) and there I got a function in the communications office. I learned how to handle voice contacts with ships, for instance our lightvessel Maas.  We also had a radar installation, an old German type without a modern monitor. On the timebase we saw objects just a peaks.  In 1946 I was still there.
In the beginning of 1947 my carreer as wireless operator in the naval airforce started. After my education as a naval wireless operator in Amsterdam I was transferred to the airbase Deelen where I learned how to work with equipment which was used in aircraft. This education was fully based on the education methods of the RAF,  for instance with the Harwellboxes the linktrainers for aircraft operators.

Hereafter followed my replacement to the airbase Gilze-Rijen, where I learned to do my profession in the air. We flew there with the Percival Proctor. This plane had Marconi equipment on board like the Lancasters, Stirlings and Halifaxes.

After my training I came in the  active service in a squadron with Avro Ansons. Those aircraft were in use for the education of navigators. In this function I made a lot of flights. Once we had 2 adspirant navigators on board who got air-sick. They fully lost control and we almost collided with a Lockheed Constellation in the aircorridor to the besieged West-Berlin. I had to take over the navigation and with the help of my electronic equipment we safely returned to base.

In 1949 I still hoped that I could continue my profession in the Netherlands, but this hope or wish was in vain. For me came, like for many young Dutchmen, the order to go to our colony, then still the Dutch East Indies. With the transportschip for troops, SS Volendam, I already in March 1949 was underway to Surabaja and was placed on the Naval Airbase Morokrembangan. This was an airbase for Consolidated Catalina flyingboats with 2 categories: land- and amphibious types. Not far from there was the civilian airfield Perak. From there we could fly with the amphibious Catalinas and Dakotas (DC-3-s). With DC-3-s we executed transport- and lineflights to other places in that country, for instance then still Batavia, later on Djakarta. So I flew with all types as a wireless operator and in periods when I did not fly I had duties in the ground station. There  we took care of the communications with ships and aircraft of the navy.

The navy give me the possibility to study the Russian language. Stubbornly I utilised this: I received transmissions of TASS intended for outlying places in Siberia. Those transmissions were in Morsecode and I already learned to follow this also in the Russian language. I wrote this down and somewhat later I tuned in on a Russian broadcast station and then I heard in voice, what I had picked up with the messages in Morsecode.

Apart from this all my life there was very adventurous for me. With our aircraft I came fast everywhere in the Indies and oft this was very dangerous. In December 1949 the Netherlands East Indies got their souvereignty and became Indonesia.  But we were still there and even flew with orders given by the Indonesian authorities.  One time we were in Makassar where the situation was very turbulent.  Groups of militants, which were against the Dutch but also against the Indonesian government, repeatedly forced us to seek cover. One time I was alone on board of our Catalina flying boat. We were there in the harbour, attached to a buoy and some people tried to climb on board. My pistol refused and I gave a round with our point 50 machinegun. The men immediately got away, but the noise of my round caused in Makassar panic reactions, there was shooting everywhere.

Two times I flew from Surabaja to Nieuw-Guinea. One time with a DC-3 to Biak and Hollandia and exactly on the day of souvereignty (27th of December 1949) we flew back from Hollandia via Ambon to Surabaja. We had filled up petrol from an old American dump. This was not good for our engines and not far from Ambon the engines showed severy deviations and I was forced to give SOS. The airfield of Ambon activated a beacon and in this way we could fly in the right direction and with only one engine still running we safely landed there. But we had already our emergency equipment ready.

On Ambon we saw people who with a receiver could hear how our Queen announced the Act of Souvereignty.

My second travel to Nieuw-Guinea was later: the Indonesian government allowed the Navy  to fly from Indonesia to Nieuw-Guinea for 1 time with a high delegation  (Deputy Minister, Vice-admiral, Dutch civilian authorities, a.s.o.). This time we flew with  a Catalina flying boat  to Sorong. 

In August 1950 I returned to the Netherlands with the Norwegian steamer Goya. During this travel I assisted the Norwegian crew as a wireless operator to handle radiotraffic in the Dutch language, for instance correspondence for our countrymen, newscasts a.s.o.

I returned to the Netherlands to continue my service over there as an aircraft apprentice.

I started this training in November 1950.

Percival Proctor. (for training wireless operators)
Chris in a Proctor
During a training flight in a Proctor.
	Our good old Avro Anson
Marconi equipment
SS Volendam
DC3 (Dakota) and Catalina
Chris at the controls of a Catalina.