PK-AFC arrives in Australia on an experimental air mail service from the Netherlands. PK-AFC flew the legs after Batavia. The success of the flight prompted Imperial Airways to start a joint UK-Australia service with Qantas although it took over three years to get going . Under pressure from the UK, KNILM was barred from operating regular services into Australia until 1938. The Dutch were unable to retaliate by barring the Imperial/Qantas from the Dutch East Indies because KLM needed to transit India and other British possessions. Photo from: State Library of Western Australia

KNILM Dutch East Indies version with the double tail. The experimental "X" prefix was required by the CAA (now FAA) for company flight tests in the US before delivery. Photo by Howard Levy.

Photo probably taken either at Bandjermasin - Oelin aka Banjarmasin - Ulin (now WAOO), or at Balikpapan in February 1936 as this aircraft opened KNILM's service to Dutch Borneo. Flights were booked solid for three months in advance according to the press. Photo from: Wereldmuseum

In 1940 the Netherlands East Indies airline KNILM opened a Java - Netherlands New Guinea route, via Celebes (Sulawesi) and the Moluccas. Two Grumman G-21A Goose amphibians soon turned out to be too small and two S-43s were ordered of a twin-tailfin variant. A third example was acquired from Hawaiian Airlines. Note the NEI reg with X prefix, which was required by US authorities for pre-delivery test flights. One year later on 26 December 1941, PK-AFT was lost to strafing Zero fighters at Lake Tondano, Sulawesi while apparently operating in support of a Dornier Do 24 unit of the Dutch navy. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Taken over by the USAAF after fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. Photo from: State Library of New South Wales

KNILM's three Dragon Rapides were acquired for aerial surveying in Netherlands New Guinea on behalf of the NNGPM oil company, and PK-AKU is seen here at the new Babo airfield. The Rapides proved of limited utility, however, and after replacement by two Sikorsky S-38 amphibians the surviving pair were employed elsewhere in Indonesia, with AKU crashing on Madura Island on 16 August 1938. Photo from: Leiden University Libraries

Delivered to Eastern Air Lines as NC13738 in 1934. Joined the RAAF in 1941 as A30-14, and withdrawn from use in Jan 1947 and stored. Forty years later, in Feb 1987, it was bought by the Dutch Dakota Association. Still carrying faded RAAF markings the DC-2 was transported to the Netherlands, for intended restoration as the famous PH-AJU "Uiver". This project never got off the ground and it remained in storage at various locations in the Netherlands until delivered to the Nederlands Transport Museum on 31 May 2018. They restored it into these KNILM colours with fake registration PK-AFK. The real PK-AFK was DC-2-115G c/n 1375.

One of a batch of rare colour slides from the Netherlands East Indies. Photo 203112 shows that this is PK-AFK. This DC-2 has a porthole above the crew doorway. The slot below the letter N of 'KNILM' holds a flare chute. The propeller tips are not painted in the national colours. Photo from: Wereldmuseum

Inauguration of the first air services within the Netherlands East Indies, to Bandoeng (Bandung) and to Semarang from Batavia - Tjililitan (Cililitan), now Jakarta - Halim. The KNILM company was not a KLM subsidiary. The other F.VIIb/3m is H-NAFA (c/n 5069). Photo from: Wereldmuseum

Ex PH-AKW. One of three Rapides delivered to KNILM. PK-AKW was written off on March 3, 1936 at Babo when it overturned on landing. Photo from: Hudson Fysh Collection/State Library of New South Wales

PK-AFB was part of the KNILM fleet until it crashed on February 4, 1938. Sistership PK-AFC visited Australia during the many years Dutch authorities sought approval to add Australia to the KLM/KNILM route map. When approval was finally received, KNILM was using Lockheed 14s and there is no record of -AFB ever visiting Australia. The photo is believed to be at one of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesian) ports used by Qantas on its Australia-Singapore service. Photo from: Hudson Fysh Collection/State Library of New South Wales

Crashed Ketapangdaja, West Borneo, on August 16, 1938, after an engine failure forced a landing on a beach. KNILM's three DH.89s were used for aerial survey. Photo from: Hudson Fysh Collection/State Library of New South Wales

PK-AFO arriving in Sydney on the first KNILM service from Batavia (Jakarta). The flight took 21 hours under the command of Captain J. Schott. There was one passenger, plus mail, photos and films. PK-AFO was lost on January 22, 1940 when it crashed into the sea soon after take-off from Denpasar enroute to Sydney. One survivor among the nine on board. Photo from: Hood Collection/State Library of New South Wales

KNILM's shiny new PK-AFM on a regular service from Batavia (Jakarta) to Sydney. It was one of the KNILM aircraft to escape to Australia following the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) in 1942. -AFM crashed near Katherine, Northern Territory, on March 26, 1942 when the pilots became disorientated on a flight from Brisbane to Batchelor. Crew and passengers survived but not the greyhounds being carried as cargo. They became dinner during the four-day wait for rescue. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

PK-ADB refuelling at Cloncurry, a regular stop on KNILM's Batavia (Jakarta) to Sydney service. When World War II spread to Asia in December 1941, -ADB escaped to Australia in March 1942 and was taken into Allied military service. Destroyed in an air raid at Port Moresby on August 17, 1942. Photo from the Dannecker Collection