Download 42.70 MB
In early March 1942 the Japanese forces were about to capture Java. On the airstrip at Bandung a DC3 passenger plane named the Pelikaan was ready for take-off on an evacuation flight to Broome in Western Australia. The pilot was Russian World War One flying ace, Ivan Smirnov.
Ivan Smirnov in World War 1
As he was about to leave, Smirnov was handed a package without any paperwork. What Smirnov didn t know was that inside that package was thirty million dollars worth of diamonds. He also didn t know that as he approached Broome he would be attacked by three Japanese Zero fighter planes and be forced to crash land the DC3 on a remote beach. So what happened to Smirnov and his passengers, and where did those diamonds go..?
The bravery, tragedy, and mystery of Captain Smirnov s secret diamond delivery
Posted
MonMonday 25
updated
MonMonday 25
JanJanuary 2021 at 11:28pm Diamond Jack Palmer (third from left) with an investigating party in front of the bullet-riddled Netherlands East Indies KLM Dakota DC-3.
(
Share
Print text only
Darwin has recently been bombed by the Japanese and they are about to capture Java.
On the airstrip at Bandung, a Dutch DC-3 passenger plane named the Pelikaan is ready for take-off on an evacuation flight to Broome.
Japanese bombers attack warships in the Java Sea in February 1942.
(
The KLM plane has been repainted in camouflage colours.