Berichtdoor hjongste » 07 Jan 2009, 19:18
This is a true story that happened when Boon van Ochsee and de Jongste travelled to Hanover in 1954.
PROLOGUE - TIRPITZ July 1944
J.G.Boon van Ochsee, (first name Bert), was a private pilot in the former Dutch East Indies. When in 1942 the war with Japan broke out, he was drafted into the air force of the KNIL (Royal Dutch East Indies Army). After the Japanese victory in the region, he escaped via New Guinea to Australia and then came to England where he was drafted into the service of the Royal Dutch Navy. In 1944 he became member of the 1840 squadron. This squadron was a Royal Navy squadron in which a large number of Dutch pilots, both from the Dutch Navy as well as from the KNIL were serving. This squadron a.o. took part in the raids on the Tirpitz. The Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sister ship of Bismarck, named after Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. She spent most of World War II in various bases in German-occupied Norway. Due to her role and bases of operations she was dubbed the "Lonely Queen of the North". She was the second largest battleship ever built in Europe.
Three air attacks on the Tirpitz were canceled, in April and May 1944, due to poor weather. The next attempt was Operation Mascot, in July 1944. By this time, however, the Germans had set up effective warning and smoke systems which effectively obscured Tirpitz from the attacking aircraft. Apart from one near-miss, the raid was a failure. During the raid on the Tirpitz, Boon van Ochsee saw an Luftwaffe Arado-water plane going to land in the Flekkefjord. He attacked the Arado and shot it down. The only success of that day!
EPILOGUE - Hanover April 1954 (The story as told by B.de Jongste)
I had to go to Hanover and rented a plane, the Luscombe 8A Silvaire Special, the PH-UDW because that type had sufficient range to reach Hanover in one hop. I asked my friend Bert Boon van Ochsee whether he was willing to go with me as my navigator, since the Luscombe had no radio equipment. And so it was agreed. After we landed at Langenhagen at Hanover we found out that all hotels were full, but a friendly Lufthansa stewardess was able to get us bed and breakfast in nearby villas. Bert stayed in a villa owned by an old lady and I ended up in another villa owned by an old couple.
Next morning Bert was deeply depressed about something. It was only after a great deal of prodding that I managed to extract the story from him.
Bert was shown by the old lady to a guest room. On the wall of the room hung a large picture of a German Navy pilot with a black ribbon across the picture. The old lady told Ben that this was her son, who had been shot down by a British fighter in July 1944, while flying his Arado water plane in the Flekkefjord in Norway.
Bert did not sleep that night!
B. de Jongste, (Bastiaan, Bas, Bob). January 23, 1917, The Hague, Netherlands
nom de guerre: Berend de Jager
Finished school (HBS-B) in 1936 and started to work for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines). Had to study Spanish since KLM had plans to send him out to South America as line-inspector. But in 1939 war broke out and KLM had to stop many activities. In May 1940 the German Army invaded the Netherlands. De Jongste started to work against the Germans already in1940 and was finally arrested by the Gestapo on March 12, 1944, sentenced to death by the Luftgaukommando in September 1944 and according to the German records executed in September 44 at fort Blaukapel near Utrecht. Contrary to these records he was in fact transported as NNZ 741 (Nacht und Nebel Zuchthäusler) to Germany where he was liberated by the Russian Army on April 27, 1945.
After the war he was a.o. a B3 pilot instructor of the Dutch National School of Aviation.
