Aircraft accidents

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States enter WW2. Negotiations start quickly with the Netherlands and British governments to replace the British military presence on Curaçao and Aruba, there since May 1940, with US troops. An agreement is reached within several weeks.

First to arrive on the islands in January 1942 are American military aircraft, bombers and fighters, to guard the islands against a possible attack from German surface raiders or submarines. They stayed on Hato Field (Curaçao) and Dakota Field (Aruba) for the duration of the Second World War.

During the war years a number of American airmen and their aircraft were lost to accidents on and around the islands. Their names and fate are given here.