Captain Ivan Vasielivich "Turc" Smirnoff
was born at dawn on 30 January 1895 on a small
farm near Vladimir, about 120 miles west of
Moscow. He was Russia's fourth highest
Ace in World War I and credited
with shooting down 11 German aircraft.
Ivan
was naturalised as a Dutch citizen. In early
1942,
Captain Smirnoff had flown
his DC-3 Dakota transport aircraft between
Java and Australia evacuating Royal Netherlands
Indies Airlines office and ground staff,
along with civilians and service personnel.
On 3 March 1942, Dutch Dakota DC-3 PK-AFV
of the KNILM (Netherlands East Indies KLM)
piloted by Captain Ivan Smirnoff, left
Bandung in Java headed for Australia with
a plane
load of evacuees and a box of diamonds
worth approximately £300,000. They
managed to escape Java just 3 days before
the Japanese
took the Bandung area. They were attacked
by three Japanese Zeros about 80 kms north
of Broome. Captain Smirnoff was wounded
several times in his arms and hip. Smirnoff
managed
to put the Dakota into a steep spiral dive
with the Zeros in pursuit and made a forced
landing on the beach. The box of diamonds
went missing after the crash.
Ivan Smirnoff
eventually died in a Catholic clinic on
the Spanish Island of Majorca on
23 October 1959.
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