Cat 4. MLD (Dutch Naval Flying Service)
Translated from Dutch by Ronald van Voorst (lees Nederlandse versie hier....)
From 1947-1953:
B-25C/D: probably 28 bought to obtain 16 operational planes.
Part of these came from No.320 Squadron that was operational already in England during the war
(these had English roundels and often small Dutch orange triangle markings). These were lend-lease planes.
The airplanes were used after the Second World War to re-build the MLD. They should have been returned to the USAF, but this did not happen with many of them.
After major maintenance in England, the first planes, from which the armament was initially removed, came to The Netherlands in 1947. They were operated by the OSRD (emergency and rescue services) and were used for various training activities. From 1949, also other activities were dealt with by no. 320 Squadron.
From 1950, after maintenance at Avio-Diepen, the ventral gun turret was removed. A single machine gun was installed in the nose and two in the dorsal turret. These Mitchells (now with registration B-xx and with a new colour scheme), flew from May 1951 with no. VSQ-5 Squadron and from March 1952 with no. VSQ-8 Squadron. Most were used until the begin of the 1950’s.
For registrations and Photo Selection.... see Dutch language B-25 page here....
The content in Dutch was first published Summer 2004 by M. de Vreeze; translated by Ronald van Voorst September 2017
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