1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown
Douglas DC-3-194 · Shootdown
From Bandung, Java, Netherlands East Indies to Broome, Western Australia
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 8
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas DC-3-194
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PK-AFV
- Operator
- Knilm
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Bandung, Java, Netherlands East IndiesTo Broome, Western Australia
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 3 March 1942, PK-AFV, a Douglas DC-3-194 airliner operated by KNILM, was shot down over Western Australia by Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service fighter aircraft, resulting in the deaths of four passengers and the loss of diamonds worth an estimated A£ 150,000 – 300,000. It is believed that the diamonds were stolen after the crash, although no one has ever been convicted of stealing them.
The PK-AFV Pelikaan was on a flight from Bandung, Dutch East Indies (later Indonesia), to Broome, Western Australia when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft that were carrying out an attack on Broome. PK-AFV crash-landed on a beach at Carnot Bay, 80 km north of Broome.
The Pelikaan was initially registered as PH-ALP and had been operated by KLM since 25 August 1937. It was based in the Netherlands. On 10 May 1940, while the Pelikaan was en route to Asia, Nazi forces invaded the Netherlands. PK-AFV was transferred to Royal Netherlands Indies Airways (KNILM) and re-registered as PK-AFV. The aircraft is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a C-47 Skytrain or Douglas Dakota, which were names given to the military variant of the DC-3.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown” (revision 1364341331, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown
- Revision
- 1364341331 · 2026-07-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2663474
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown" (page 5597186, revision 1364341331)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.