b. 26 September 1904 in Amsterdam

Trained in the Dutch Air Force, and one of the first Dutch pilots to qualify for a navigator's licence, he joined K.L.M. in 1929 and flew on its mail routes, chiefly as commander of Amsterdam-Batavia liners.

In 1933 he spent four months in America, nightflying over various routes and studying their operation.

d. 20 Oct 1948, aged 44, when the K.L.M. Constellation airliner he was piloting on a flight from Amsterdam to New York crashed and burst into flames on a farm near Tarbolton, Ayrshire near Prestwick Airport.