abstract
| - In those early days you couldn't just become a pilot. If you wanted to fly you had to join the Air Force. And so he did. On August 26, 1939, Bodo Sandberg made history in Dutch aviation: he made the first successful belly landing. On May 13, 1940, three days after the Germans had invaded the Netherlands, Sandberg was called into action. Because the Nazis had destroyed almost all the planes of the Dutch Air Force, Sandberg had to fly one of the few Fokker G-I fighters that were still airworthy. Along with one other G-1 fighter, he had to protect the last Dutch bomber, a Fokker T-5, against a deluge of German Messerschmitts. The small squadron's task was to bomb the Moerdijkbruggen, Holland's largest bridges over the wide estuary of the Haringvliet, to hold back the German invasion. Just beyond Dordrecht, the squadron was attacked by nine Messerschmitt fighters, three of which attacked the T-5. The other six split up and attacked the two G-1s. The T5 went down in flames and crashed in the Grienden along the Noord, near Ridderkerk. The other G-1 was also shot down and crashed in a polder at Nieuw-Lekkerland, killing pilot Sgt. Paul Schoute. Sandberg, wounded, managed to escape back to base at Schiphol airport.
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