1. Dornier 24K flying boat of the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service at Willemsdorp before the outbreak of the Second World War.

A Dutch Navy Air Service (Marine Luchtvaart Dienst - MLD) aircraft on the water near the Moerdijk bridges at Willemsdorp. Aviolanda in Papendrecht regularly tested seaplanes here for the MLD. After the May days of 1940, production simply continued, although the aircraft naturally went to the Germans. The aircraft in this photograph is a Dornier 24K flying boat. It is the X‑30, built by Aviolanda in Papendrecht and delivered to the MLD in April 1938. The pre‑war roundel (red‑white‑blue with an orange dot) is still painted on the fuselage. In 1939 a Dutch Fokker T.VIII W was shot down by a German aircraft, with the excuse that the Dutch roundel resembled the British one too closely. After this incident, the Dutch roundels were replaced by an orange triangle with a black outline — something not yet applied to this aircraft. The photograph was most likely taken between April 1938 and 1939.

« 1. Dornier 24K flying boat of the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service at Willemsdorp before the outbreak of the Second World War. 3. Fokker C.VIII‑W seaplane at Willemsdorp before the outbreak of the Second World War. »