Michel Wilhelm Nuboer (1916-1980) left Paramaribo in 1941/42 as an Assistant in the engine’s department of a freight ship bound to Curaçao during the Second World War. The ship may have likely been carrying aluminum aggregates for making fighter planes in the U.S. as cargo. Upon arrival, he probably was a gunner first, but then became a Medical Assistant stationed on Bonaire. During the 1960s - 1974+ he was a First Aid Medical Trainer in the Volunteer Corps Curaçao (VKC). On August 21st , 1969, Michel Wilhelm Nuboer received the Order of Orange-Nassau (no. 122) from Her Majesty the Queen.
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.
23 February 1943
Douglas A-20A Havoc light bomber (s/n 40-095), USAAF 59th Bombardment Squadron Aircraft takes off at 08.48 hrs from Hato Airfield (Curaçao), possibly to assist in the search for a missing Douglas B-18B Bolo aircraft from their squadron. Immediately after takeoff the aircraft is seen to ditch into the sea, just north of the airfield.
