Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies ATC officer was at the Maospati Air Base tower (Iswahjudi AFB - now), around 19 April 1949.

In 1890, in Batavia and Aceh, flights using "ballonvaarten" balloons were successfully carreid out. This is the first experiment conducted by Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indische Leger (KNIL) in aerospace. and then the Dutch East Indies government began to develop it. In February 1913, a test flight was conducted in Surabaya with an airplane transported from the Netherlands by ship. And when World War I broke out, it became increasingly necessary to build up the strength of the Air Force.^[5]

On May 30, 1914, the Royal Netherlands Air Force embryo was established under the name Proefvliegafdeling (PVA) or the Flight Test Department. Then on March 31, 1939, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force or better known as Militaire Luchtvaart (ML) was established in Kalijati, Subang, West Java. And also established Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD) in Surabaya. Both of them only prioritized training Dutch soldiers.^[5]

Around 1939, the Dutch began to build the Maospati Air Base (PAU Maospati), with a size of 1,586 X 53 meters, and is located at an altitude of 120 meters above sea level. This base was built as part of the preparation of the Dutch Van Ooorlog department (Ministry of War - Netherlands) to deal with Japanese air attacks, so that it could immediately accommodate Militaire Luchtvaart aircraft.^[3]

The construction of this air base required a large area of land, so there was a forced displacement of the population from the following villages:^[6]

1. Ngujung Village, Maospati, Magetan, completely relocated
2. Setren Village, some of the rice fields have been moved
3. Kleco Village, some of the rice fields have been moved
4. Lemahbang Village, completely relocated
5. Kinandang Village, completely relocated
6. Kincang Kulon Village, completely relocated
7. Pandeyan village, residents of the village in the southern part were moved, and moved to the area that is now the village of Bogorejo, West, Magetan
8. Mranggen Village, the villagers in the southern part were moved

A Dakota-type transport plane landed at Maospati Airbase around 19 April 1949

Residents who have received compensation money have moved voluntarily, and there are several villages that have moved entirely (bedol desa). Like the residents of Pandeyan village, they moved to the north of the main road and occupied the village of Bogorejo and village of Ronowijayan to become the village of Sukolilo.^[6] After the residents moved, the construction of the air base began in 1939. The runway was the first thing built. Then proceed with the construction of three hangars in the Klecorejo, Setren and Ngujung areas. Then, they built a workshop building (now the 042 Engineering Squadron hangar), a montage building near the workshop, four warehouses, a workshop and others. The development was continued by building offices, military dormitories (campement) for Dutch soldiers and their families.

Construction of the Maospati PAU was completed at the end of May 1940. The base was officially opened with the deployment of three air squadrons:

• One fighter squadron, 13 Curtiss 75A-7 Hawks, since 1 February 1941
• Two squadrons of fighter, 17 Curtiss Wright 21B Interceptor aircraft, since late 1941
• One training squadron, with a capacity of 6 Brewster F2A Buffalo aircraft

A total of 36 aircraft were divided into the three air squadrons.

Japanese occupation

When the Pacific war broke out in 1941, this air base was used as a base for Allied troops on the island of Java.^[3] When the Dutch surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy (Kaigun Kokusho) took control of this air base. Around the base are stationed base defense troops from Rikugun (Army battalion).^[3]

In the event of the attack on the base by the Japanese, the base commander was Captain H.J. Van De Pool, who eventually died in aerial combat. Due to its short occupation and busyness in the Pacific War, Japan did not have the opportunity to build this air base.^[3]

This base, at that time, was used to store various types of Japanese-made aircraft motor parts.^[3]

Post-Independence

November 9, 1949, Major Sabirin Mochtar, Commander of the Sikatan Battalion, was accepting the handover of Maospati airbase from the Dutch after the completion of the Second Dutch Aggression. Previously they were still attacking each other in battles in Kediri and Madiun.

After Indonesia's independence, the Maospati Air Base was controlled by the soldiers of the struggle at that time. On 27 August 1945, this airbase was handed over by the commander of Dai Nippon in Maospati to Wedono Maospati. The BKO TKR (People's Security Army Aircraft Workshop) Maospati was handed over from the Madiun TKR Regiment Commander to MB AURI (Air Force Headquarters) on May 5, 1946, and since then officially belongs to the Air Force and is referred to as the National Air Base. Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman Saleh was appointed as the base commander as well as the commander of the Bugis base, Malang. His representative is H. Soejono who also comes from the same base.^[7]

Independence struggle

During this period, this airbase was badly damaged by attacks by Dutch warplanes and almost all other airbases in Java except for the Maguwo Air Base and the MB AURI in Yogyakarta because it was protected by bad weather.

Based on the Decree of the Minister/Commander of the Air Force Number 564 dated November 4, 1960, the "Maospati Air Base" changed its name to "Iswahjudi Air Force Base". With the development of the role of Iswahjudi Air Base in the struggle for Irian Jaya, it became the Main Air Base (Lanuma). Currently, the Indonesian Air Force Base Iswahjudi is a Type A air base and is under the Air Operations Command II.