MLU FORUM  

Go Back   MLU FORUM > GENERAL WW2 TOPICS > Your Relatives

Notices

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old 01-12-06, 11:13
Hanno Spoelstra's Avatar
Hanno Spoelstra Hanno Spoelstra is offline
MLU Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 14,400
Default Officier-vlieger J. Blok

Pilot officer Johannes (Johan) Blok was my grandfather's (from my mother's side) youngest brother.
He was a navigator with the merchant marine because his father told him to get a proper job. When the war broke out in May 1940 his ship was in the Netherlands East Indies where he instantly joined the Navy as a pilot, because this was what he had always wanted to do.
When the NEI were invaded by the Japanese he was shipped to Australia to continue his training, followed by a move to the USA to complete his training as a pilot.

Johannes was posted to FAA Naval Air Squadron 1847 at RNAS Eglinton, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The Squadron commander put a lot of pressure on the pilots to fly on the edge, resulting in a number of fatal crashes.

On 27 March 1944 Officier-vlieger J. Blok and sergeant-vlieger S. (Simon) de Ridder - a good friend of him - collided in mid-air. One Hellcat destroyed the tail of the other while changing formation. Both planes crashed and both pilots lost their lives in the acccident.

More later when I have the time to dig up some files.

Hanno
Reply With Quote
 

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 11:17.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Maple Leaf Up, 2003-2016