Flevo Decals FD72-021: RNAF over Netherlands New Guinea

Western New Guinea

This used to be a Dutch colony, until the early 60’s. Indonesia, another former colony, laid claim to Netherlands New Guinea as early as the end of World War 2. New Guinea east of the 141st parallel was administered by Australia. Years of negotiations did not bring an end to the dispute of the colony. Worse, Indonesia had begun infiltrating troops to as a forerunner to a large scale invasion. Most Dutch did not trust the Indonesian leader, Sukarno, as he had collaborated with the Japanese during WWII and so was considered by many to be a traitor.

The Dutch DoD responded by installing 2 early warning radars and deploying 12 Hawker Hunter Mk.4 fighters. These were later complemented by 12 Mk.6’s. All Mk.4’s were transferred using  HMS Karel Doorman, our aircraft carrier alongside 2 Alouette II helicopters for SAR duties., whereas the Mk.6’s were flown in, in stages. 2 Tiger moths were used for training duties. 336 Squadron was established as a transport squadron, using 3 C-47’s.

In August of 1962 Indonesia did attack New Guinea, albeit in small numbers. Fearing an escalation to a full scale war, the Un brokered a cease fire and secret negotiations were started to determine the future of Netherlands New Guinea.

In 1963, Netherlands New Guinea was handed to Indonesia, via a UN brokered plan which called for a referendum in 1969. Indonesia annexed the territory officially during 1969.

This sheet has options for the following 3 types of aircraft:

2 Tiger Moths

3 DC-3/C-47A

Hawker Hunter Mk.4 / Mk.6

Sud Aviation SE-313 Alouette II

The decals themselves are on 4 different sheets, not a continuous A5 sheet as with most decal manufacturers. The are in register (as with other Flevo Decals) and have been printed by BOA in the Czech Republic. These decals have not been sized to any specific kit, but you are given the choice of kit on the instructions (which is a nice touch, saves you some searching).

The instructions are an A5 size booklet, printed by Postmaster of Lelystad in full color and comprises 8 pages and are very comprehensive.

Colors are given in both Federal Standard, as well as the more common brands such as Xtraolor, Model Master, Humbrol and even Gunze Acrylics. 

Harald Verweij

November 2013

My thanks to both Björn and Niels Dol of Flevoaviation for the review sample.

These decals can be bought directly from Flevodecals: http://www.flevodecals.net/indexe.html