The Strongest Air Force in SEA

   As it was known to many military strategists, the Indonesian Air Force seemed to have become the strongest air force in Southeast-Asia in the early years of 1960s, fully equipped with various types of Soviet-built military combat and transport aircraft, such as :

• the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, MiG-19S, and MiG-21F air defense fighters (a total of approx. 100 aircraft);
• the Ilyushin Il-28 medium bombers, Tupolev Tu-16B heavy bombers, and Tu-16KS missile-platform bombers;
• the Antonov An-12B heavy transports; and
• the Mil Mi-4 utility helicopters and Mi-6 heavy transport helicopters.

   Note:   There were also several Czech-built Avia-14 medium transport aircraft (similar to the Soviet's Ilyushin Il-14), that were still in operations at that time, and also some obsolete ex-World War II war planes such as the Tupolev Tu-2 light bombers and those prop-driven fighter planes like the Ilyushin Il-10 anti-tank fighters and the Lavochkin La-11 pursuit planes being flown during the late 1950's, but all of them were finally scrapped and removed from the Air Force inventory.

   Besides, we still had various US-built military aircraft and helicopters in operations, such as :

• the Piper L-4J Cub primary trainers, Vultee BT-13 basic trainers, and AT-16/T-6/T-6G Texan (Harvard) advanced trainers;
• the T-34A Mentor basic trainers, replacing the BT-13's;
• the Bell-205 Iroquois utility helicopters;
• the P-51D Mustang tactical/close air support fighters;
• the C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) medium transports;
• the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Invader light bombers;
• the PBY-5 Catalina and UF-1 Albatross seaplanes; and
• the C-130B Hercules heavy turboprop transports.

   Even the Indonesian Navy had a composite squadron comprising of 

• the British-built  anti-submarine AS-4 Gannet aircraft, a three-crew turboprop engine, counter-rotating propeller aircraft;
• the UF-2 Albatross amphibians; and
• the Bell Augusta helicopters.

Note:

• The British-built De Havilland Vampire, the Indonesian Air Force first jet trainer, had been used only for introductory jet training purposes by our senior fighter pilots (among others the late Air Vice-Marshal Leo W.J. Wattimena), until it was finally scrapped and removed from the Air Force inventory.