Suryadarma Air Force Base

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Suryadarma Air Force Base

Pangkalan Angkatan Udara Suryadarma
KITLV A1279 - Vliegveld van de Militaire Luchtvaart van het KNIL te Kalidjati, KITLV 49532.tiff
Aerial view of Kalijati Airfield in early 1930s
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
Operator Indonesian Air Force
LocationKalijati, Subang Regency, West Java, Indonesia
Elevation  AMSL 361 ft / 110 m
Coordinates 6°31′53″S107°39′33″E / 6.53139°S 107.65917°E / -6.53139; 107.65917
Website lanud-suryadarma.tni-au.mil.id
Map
Indonesia West Java location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
SDM
Location in West Java
Indonesia location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
SDM
Location in Indonesia
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
mft
09/271,2003,937grass
Source: [1] [2]

Suryadarma Air Force Base( ICAO : WIIK) is one of the Indonesian Air Force bases on Java. Formerly known as Kalijati Airfield (alternatively spelled as Kalidjati), it is located in the village of Kalijati, in the kabupaten of Subang in West Java.

Contents

The base was named after Suryadi Suryadarma, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian Air Force. The base was the first military airfield to be built in Indonesia, constructed in 1916. [3]

History

Dutch East Indies

Visit of D. Fock, governor-general of the Netherlands Indies, to Kalijati in 1922 COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Bezoek van Gouverneur-Generaal mr. D. Fock aan het vliegveld van Kalidjati West-Java tijdens zijn tweedaags bezoek aan de Pamanoekan- en Tjiasemlanden op 27 en 28 oktober 1922. TMnr 60013101.jpg
Visit of D. Fock, governor-general of the Netherlands Indies, to Kalijati in 1922

The Proefvliegafdeling-KNIL (PVA-KNIL), an aircraft testing unit within the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, was created on 30 May 1914. One of the first aircraft type used by the KNIL was the Glenn Martin TA hydroplane, which was based at a seaplane base in Tanjung Priok, Batavia. Due to the wooden construction of the aircraft, it was thought that the seawater might impact the aircraft's flying performance, and so the PVA was looking to construct a land-based aerodrome. [4] A patch of forest near Kalijati, located 100 km east of Batavia and 50 km north of Bandung, [5] was chosen due to its flat topography. [4] The Kalijati Airfield (Van Ophuijsen: Kalidjati) was established in January 1916. [5] In its first years, the airfield building consisted of bamboo wards with grass runway. [3] The buildings and airfield facility was completed in 1917.

Luitenant Hein ter Poorten flew a Glenn Martin TA aircraft from Kalijati on 8 February 1916, becoming the first person to flew an aircraft from Kalijati. The aircraft was a hydroplane modified by swapping its pontoons for landing gears. [6] His second flight was on 14 February. Also onboard the aircraft was Luitenant-generaal Johan Pieter Michielsen, the commander of the colonial army. The flight ended in a crash, killing Michielsen, with Ter Poorten suffering injury in the head. [7]

The PVA-KNIL would later stationed some of its converted Glenn Martin TA hydroplanes at Kalijati. [8]

In March 1917, the PVA-KNIL received eight Wright-Martin Model R recon aircraft and four Glenn Martin TT training aircraft and stationed them in Kalijati, [4] later followed by the opening of an aviator academy in the airfield. [9] Due to its importance as the training site for pilots, in the same year the runway was lengthened to 1,400 meters. [6]

During the 1919 England to Australia flight, one of the contestants' aircraft, the Vickers Vimy "G-EAOU", transited at Kalijati on 6 December 1919. The arrival of the aircraft was welcomed by the Governor-General Johan Paul van Limburg Stirum. [6]

On 29 December 1930, Onderluitenant Oonicx was testing a new parachute for the air force by jumping from a Fokker C.IV flying above the airfield. It was the first time a parachute was used in Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. [10]

Kalijati Airfield was inactivated for some time due to budget cuts caused by the Great Depression in the 1920s. [11] In mid-1930s, the 3e Vliegtuig Afdeling, a squadron equipped with the obsolete Curtiss P-6 Hawk, was stationed at Kalijati. [12] At the same time, some of the KNIL's new Martin 139 bomber fleet was stationed at Kalijati due to overcapacity at the Andir Airfield in Bandung. [11]

World War II

British personnel inspecting Japanese Ki-49 bombers at Kalijati, c. 1945-1946 Ki-49 in Java.jpg
British personnel inspecting Japanese Ki-49 bombers at Kalijati, c. 1945–1946

In the time of the Dutch East Indies, the base was the centre for pilots. On 2 March 1942, the colonial Dutch troops based their campaign against the Japanese here. Negotiations and the formal signing for the surrender of the Dutch East Indies took place at the airfield on 8 March 1942. [13]

Post-World War II

Suryadarma Air Force Base
Pangkalan Angkatan Udara (Lanud) Suryadarma
Kalijati, Subang, West Java
Logo LANUD.png
Type Roundel of Indonesia.svg Type A Air Force base
Site information
Owner Insignia of the Indonesian Air Force.svg Indonesian Air Force
Site history
BuiltJanuary 1916
Built by Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force
Battles/wars
Garrison information
Current
commander		Air Commodore Sapuan

Today, the base is used by helicopter pilots.

It is used by Skadron Udara 7, a team of Bell 47G-3B-1, Bell 204B and Eurocopter EC120 Colibri helicopters.

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References

  1. ↑ "WIIK - Subang [Suryadarma AB], JB, ID - Airport - Great Circle Mapper".
  2. ↑ "Kalijati Airport [WIIK], West Java, Indonesia - METAR & TAF".
  3. 1 2 Arifa Chaniago 2019, p. 02.
  4. 1 2 3 Sumbodo, Sudiro (16 February 2018). "Martin TA, Pesawat Militer Pertama yang Terbang di Langit Nusantara". aviahistoria.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Het begin van de luchtvaart in Nederlands-Indië". indearchipel.com (in Dutch). 17 January 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Abu Fauzan, Hevi (26 March 2022). "Kisah Penerbangan di Hindia Belanda, dari Kalijati ke Bandung". sejarahbandung.id (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  7. ↑ Matanasi, Petrik (31 October 2018). "Bagaimana Hindia Belanda Merintis Penerbangan Sipil?". Tirto.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  8. ↑ Arifa Chaniago 2019, p. 06.
  9. ↑ Permadi 2003, p. 62.
  10. ↑ Sumbodo, Sudiro (16 September 2017). "Payung Udara Irvin, Penyelamat Pilot LA dalam Keadaan Darurat". aviahistoria.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  11. 1 2 Sumbodo, Sudiro (18 June 2021). "Martin B-10, Protektor Hindia Belanda". aviahistoria.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  12. ↑ Sumbodo, Sudiro (9 July 2017). "Curtiss P-6 Hawk : Pesawat Tempur Andalan LA-KNIL". aviahistoria.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  13. ↑ Remmelink 2015, pp. 529–534.

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