Lockheed Twin Tails (was: Lodestar lands at flight museum)

[Lang]

Hanno,

The Dutch also bought (I think 16) baby brother Lockheed 12's for Indonesia. These were the only ones fitted with dorsal turrets. They looked a bit ungainly on such a sleek aircraft.

Most were lost during the Japanese occupation and one was flown in a desperate escape from Sumatra to Ceylon with drums of fuel and hoses out the windows into the fuel tanks.

There is one left in a deserted hangar on Java which I have been attempting to buy for 20 years but trying to find the responsible family member of the now-deceased General who suddenly "owned" it in mysterious circumstances back in the 60's is almost impossible. It was still there when I looked a couple of years ago - with a Grumman Goose seaplane and a couple of T-6 Harvards.

Lang

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Lang,

Thanks for your response. Interesting to hear about the survivor you located in Indonesia. Here´s hoping you somehow end up buying it and fly it "back" to Holland!

A Lockheed L-12 (or L-212?) is preserved at the Netherlands Military Aviation Museum at Soesterberg, The Netherlands. Details I found list it as c/n 1306, which was delivered 6 February 1942 to Netherlands East Indies Government as L2-38. Somehow it ended up in Denmark, where it last flew in the 1960s and then was retired to the Egeskov Museum. It was transferred to Soesterberg in 1985 and put on outdoor display (see pic I googled). It is currently being refurbished.

Interestingly, as the Netherlands East-Indies Army Air Corps (ML-KNIL) was the first military customer for the L-12 and no prototype was built, the suggestion was made the L-212 was in fact developed in conjunction with the ML-KNIL.
Indeed 16 seem to have been on strength during the Japanese invasion, but more were on order. Possibly some of the diverted ones ended up in Australia?

Besides the Dutch connection, there is a personal connection: there is a good chance Johannes Blok, my grandfather´s brother, flew in (or even piloted?) a Lodestar or L-212 during his chequered flying career.

Regards,
Hanno

pn_w4394.jpg

[Lang]

Hanno,

A long while back when researching the Indonesian Lockheed 12 I found a Lockheed-Boeing magazine with photos of the Dutch aircraft on the production line. I am sure it said they were built to a Dutch requirement and that was the only customer.

There are a few around the world (all converted back to civil without turrets and I am sure the escapees all came through Australia - probably some were given RAAF numbers like the Ryan trainers that escaped)

[Rob Beale]

There is a Lodestar under preservation in Gisborne, New Zealand, the first city in the world to see the sun each day!

Link to the site: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/index.html

Rob

[Keith Webb]

The world's only airworthy Hudson...

http://oldcmp.net/Images/Aircraft/Hudson/hud4_5.jpg

Link.

My friend Doug Hamilton (that's him flying the Temora Hudson) also owns an airworthy Lockheed 12.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

The world's only airworthy Hudson...

Ah yes, one of you SEG flights! Great to see there´s one in the air still. The Dutch flew them extensively during WW2, operating as No.320 (Dutch) Squadron RAF.

Pic below shows Lockheed Hudson T9364 "Ypenburg" pictured on 22 February 1941 at Carew Cheriton (source). Note the orange triangle on the aircraft´s nose.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Lang

A long while back when researching the Indonesian Lockheed 12 I found a Lockheed-Boeing magazine with photos of the Dutch aircraft on the production line. I am sure it said they were built to a Dutch requirement and that was the only customer.

Lang,

This Lockheed ad seems to underpin that, as the L-212 on the left is painted in Dutch markings.

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Indeed 16 seem to have been on strength during the Japanese invasion, but more were on order. Possibly some of the diverted ones ended up in Australia?

This webpage has a list of all L-12A´s and L-212´s in use with the ML-KNIL and Air Force both during and after WW2. Although a lot of details still need to be filled out, it gives a clue to the numbers in use. The list mentions seven L-12A´s transferred to Indonesia after the war of independence. It seems one of those is on Lang´s shopping list.

[Lang]

Hanno,

Found this picture of Dutch East Indies Lockheed 12.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Lang

Found this picture of Dutch East Indies Lockheed 12.

Lang, I think this drawing comes from a publication by Dutch Profile. Do you know this book?

Quote from a review of this book:

The ML-KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps) was the largest single user of the 130 Lockheed L-12 /212 aircraft built, having ordered some 36 examples. There were two versions built for the Dutch, the L-12 which was unarmed, and the L-212 which was equipped with a nose gun, dorsal turret, and could carry a small external bomb load.

There were sixteen L-212’s and two L-12’s delivered to the East Indies, the balance of the orders, eighteen L-12’s, were diverted initially to Australia, India, and to the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School (RNMFS) in Jackson, Miss. One of the L-212’s delivered to the East Indies escaped the Japanese occupation of Java, flying out on March 9, 1942 from Pameungpeuk, Java to Colombo, Ceylon via Medan and Lho Nga Sumatra, crewed by Dutch, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand pilots.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

I think this Life magazine view showing the interior of an aircraft factory shows a Hudson being built.

[Keith Webb]

Certainly has that look about it with the windows in the nose.

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

I think this Life magazine view showing the interior of an aircraft factory shows a Hudson being built.

[Lang]

Hanno,

I don't know the book but it looks full of good info.

The story of the one which flew to Ceylon (I mentioned this trip earlier) was very dramatic. I had a copy of a very large article - about 40 pages over 3 issues - from a flying magazine in the 70's written by one of the pilots but can't find it at present.

Lang

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

There were sixteen L-212’s and two L-12’s delivered to the East Indies, the balance of the orders, eighteen L-12’s, were diverted initially to Australia, India, and to the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School (RNMFS) in Jackson, Miss.

Speaking of the RNMFS, here is the sole survivor of a batch of "The Other Twin Tail" which were bought by the NEI Government.

From airwarweb.net I learned Beech AT-11 c/n 3069 was one of 24 ordered by the Dutch for their Naval Air Services in the East Indies. Original serials were A1 to A24. After surrender of the East Indies the aircraft were confiscated by the Americans and they got fake serials by adding the fiscal year number '42' to the manufacturers' construction number. So c/n became 'serial' 42-3057 and so on. During the service the aircraft flew with these 'fake-serials'. When the aircraft were no longer needed they were passed to the USAAF where they got official serials. 44-72005 and on. In 1943 the Dutch Flying School lent a further six AT11s from the USAAF to speed up the training courses.

H.