Warbird Information Exchange

Hello,

Is there anyone wo has some information on the pilot with the name Edward H Jaquet? As far as I know he was American and flew post-flights for the ABDA command in the Dutch Indies, during the invasion of the Japanees. One type he was flying during this time was the Koolhoven FK 51 of the Dutch Indies army air corps.

Thanks in advance!!

Regards,

Mathieu.

Hi Mathieu:

Do you mean Colonel Edward M. Jacquet? He was a B-17 copilot in the 19th BG in the very early days of the Pacific War.

Do a Google search and you can find out some more info; doesn't appear to be a lot out there, but there's some.

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Dave

You MUST be correct, Dave...
Colonel Edward M Jacquet, 93BS, 19BG...and his widow was Helen...last address was in San Antonio. I met him in 1980s at the OK City 19BG Reunion.
Cheers,
David

Back in the mid 1990's I was working at the Paris Airshow manning the company display booth. One of the investment bankers who owned control of the company asked me to give his dad a VIP tour of the airshow and then take him to dinner in Paris. His dad was Col Jacquet. It was an incredible evening of stories...... most of which the wine caused me to forget. I do recall him talking about flying into Manila just as the Japanese attack started. His "son" told me the next day that he was vaguely aware thet his father had flown in the war but did not know any details....... investment bankers...... way too much money and no heart or soul!!!

Gentleman,

Thank you all for your replies!! Why I am interested in this man? Because I like to find more information or confirmation about an event in which he was involved. While Jacquet was flying a Dutch Koolhoven FK 51 he was intercepted by a Zero. He tried to escape by flying very low and making lots of course changes, the Japanese tried to follow him at this low altitude but made a mistake and crashed. This is the story that goes in The Netherlands, if it is true or just a story don't know. Does anyone of you know more? Perhaps Jacquet was official credited with a kill?
Attached a painting of the "fight"


Best regards,

Mathieu

Mathiu:

My Uncle, Colonel Edward Jacquet, was the Pilot of the plane shown in the artwork. He was delivering mail in the Dutch West Indies and was intercepted by a Japanese Zero that did crash. There are some books out there recalling this event and the Book "On Wings we Conquer" by John Mitchell recounts the 19th Bomb Group during the first year of the war in the pacific. My Uncle relayed to me this story of how he out maneuvered the Zero because he was able to with the slower moving Dutch plane. I look forwad to communicating with you Mathiu. I am located in California. Thomas Melvin, USMC Veteran

For the sake of picking nits, the attacking aircraft portrayed would appear to be a Ki-43.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dear Thomas,

Thanks for your interesting reply! I am still interested to learn more about your uncle, he was the only one every managing to down an enemy aircraft while flying a FK 51. Hopefully you have a photo of him and some nice stories about his flying experiance in the Dutch Indies. In 2010 a replica of a FK 51 was built for the military aviation museum, see photos in this link: http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/for ... ica-10461/
I received your pm, I'll reply tomorrow to that mail.

Best regards,

Mathieu.

I just ran into this interesting post. One story that's popular in Holland about the Koolhoven Fk-51 bringing down a Zero by violent maneuvers is officially recorded as follows:

On 9 February 1942 A6M2 Zeros of the 22nd Air Flotilla launched an attack on Dutch airfields on Java and two FK-51s of III.Vk.A.3 were lost as they tried to escape from Tjililitan. These were K135 (flown by 1Lt. Gulden with Sgt. J.N. Schipper - both lightly wounded) and K136 (flown by Vdg. H.W. van Rhijn and Sgt. O.P.A. van de Poll - both killed). A third Koolhoven (serial unknown, crewed by Sgt. G.D. Brinkman and possibly Sgt. H.M. Gerrits) managed to escape to Tjisaoek.

Unofficially it is claimed Brinkman caused the Zero to crash during this flight, but there is no official record of this.


However the painting of Dutch aviation painter Thijs Postma does indeed appear to show the encounter as related by Col. Jacquet, as K101 was on loan to the 19th BG at Malang between 26 January and 14 February 1942, to serve as a communications aircraft.

Thomas, do you know more about the exact circumstances as told by your uncle? Particularly the date would be of interest as this would allow me to cross-check against Japanese units active on that day.

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