Officier-vlieger J. Blok

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Watching a 1941 documentary, "De Marine Vliegt" (The Navy Flies), I was stunned to recognise my late great-uncle Johannes Blok! He is the pilot whose first solo flight in a Ryan ST-M is featured prominently.

Trained as a merchant officer, he joined the Navy in 1941. Johannes Blok made his first flight on 16 September 1941, flew his first solo flight on 12 October and finished his primary flying training on 21 November of that year with 104h.36' flying time under his belt.

See https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...9018392&type=1 for some more screenshots.

Johannes Blok first solo 1.jpg Johannes Blok first solo 8.jpg Johannes Blok first solo 12.jpg Johannes Blok first solo 14.jpg Johannes Blok first solo 18.jpg