Netherlands. Medal 1933, Christmas Pelican flight - Holland to the Netherlands Indies
- KOD: 4807147RMA
Netherlands. Commemorative medal 1933, Kerstvlucht de Pelikaan - Christmas Pelican flight, on the reverse autographs of the pilots, flight Holland to the Netherlands Indies (Indonesia) 18-22 / 23-30 December 1933, Bronze 40 mm, weight 30,0 g., Condition aUNC
This token commemorates the Christmas flight from Holland to the Dutch Indies (Indonesia) in 1933 in a record time of just a few days. The airplane with the name Pelican transported mail, left off from Schiphol airport, picked up some mail as well in Jodhpur (India) from another plane that had stranded there. The pilots Smirnoff, Soer, van Beukering and Grosfeld had to return the airplane with mail returning from Batavia (now: Jakarta) to the Netherlands before the beginning of the New Year. It was such a huge event for aviation that the flight crew received a Royal award. Also, a series of two Dutch stamps were issued in 1933 for special flights: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luchtpostzegel. The following article in Dutch provides more information about the flight: http://snip-fan.nl/node/23
źródło: numista.com