WWII story w/ B25 - Re: NNG-Aircraft Content

Hi,

My Dad was a Dutch citizen during WWII. He was born in the Dutch East Indies on the Island of Java. The Japanese invaded and he joined the KNIL (Dutch Colonial Air Force).

He learned to fly in Jackson, MS. Being in the KNIL, he usually flew out of Austrailia to areas of the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. The KNIL was basically an arm of the USAAF.

At one time, he had to ferry a B25 from Hawaii to Fairfield-Suisun airfield just inside the Central Valley in California. They fired up the B25 with belly tanks in the bomb bay for the range. Just past the point-of-no-return, Dad tried to get fuel from the belly tanks to the wing tanks and it failed. Despite having tested the pump in Hawaii, it was not working over the middle of the Pacific.

The crew (Dutch) was ready to ditch the plane immediately. Dad (being the pilot and the one with the final word) said no. His thought was that the each mile they were able to fly was a mile closer to California and each mile improved the chances of rescue. As they crossed the California coast, the fuel ran out and he made a dead stick landing at the San Francisco public airport. After that, the crew never questioned Dad's decisions.

As it turned out, the feed line from the belly tanks had been cut. They said it was sabotage.

FWIW

Doug vV

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