Air War WW2 Portal

On May 10th 1940 World War 2 started for the Dutch.

After capitulation a number of planes of the Naval Air Service escaped to France and from there to the United Kingdom. A number of pilots and engineers of the LVA (Dutch Air Force) escaped to the UK too. There the MLD (Dutch Naval Air Services) restarted and two squadrons were formed: 320 and 321 under Coastal Command of the Royal Air Force. Later 321 merged with 320 squadron and 321 was disbanded. A new 321 Squadron was established in the Far East to operate from Ceylon on patrol missions over the Indian Ocean.
For operations from Merchant Aircraft Carriers the Dutch established a new Naval Squadron. During the war 19 MAC ships were on duty on the Atlantic Ocean, of these two were Dutch, the Shell tankers 'Gadila' and 'Macoma'. The main task was escorting the Atlantic Convoys. The MACs were very effective against U-boat attacks. Of the 217 transatlantic convoys since the first MAC entered service in May 1943 only two losses were counted!
To equip the two Dutch MACs the Dutch established the no. 860 (Dutch) Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It started operations with Swordfish aircraft. At the end of the war the Squadron was equipped with Barracuda aircraft.