Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten (22 June 1911 – 19 October 2000) was a Dutch pilot and social worker who was a member of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War and a pilot in the British

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...

. She was the only woman to receive the Vliegerkruis, the Airman's Cross.

Early life and education

Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten was born in

Hillegom Hillegom () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Hillegom is part of an area called the Duin- en Bollenstreek ("Dune and Bulb Region"). As such, a large portion of the local economy was tradition ...

on 22 June 1911 and grew up with six brothers. Her father was a bulb grower and the family business still exists as Royal Van Zanten. She attended a boarding school in

Zetten Zetten is a village in the Overbetuwe municipality, Gelderland, Netherlands. The village is located in the Betuwe. This is also the base of the (forensic) youth-clinic Ottho Gerhard Heldringstichting, founded as the "Steenbeek" asylum for refo ...

, where she met fellow student Maria Sluis, with whom she remained friends until the end of her life. Together they went to study at the Christelijk Instituut voor Christelijke Sociale Arbeid (the Christian Social Work Institute) in Amsterdam. They lived in an attic and travelled a lot, including riding on ox-cart to the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

. Van Zanten worked as an au pair in France for a year and a half, and sailed alone on cargo ships to visit her brother in America. Van Zanten wanted to become an air

stewardess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

for

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

, the Netherlands' flag carrier airline, but was rejected in 1936 as she did not have a gymnasium diploma (secondary education qualification). Disappointed, she went on a world tour with money she had recently inherited from her parents. She travelled through the United States, Japan, China, Korea, and Indonesia, where she first went up in an aircraft, before returning home. She then left for Britain where she earned her pilot's licence in 1938, training in a

Gypsy Moth ''Lymantria dispar'', also known as the gypsy moth or the spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. ''Lymantria dispar'' is subdivided into several subspecies, with subspecies such as ''L. d. dispar'' and ''L. d. japonica'' bei ...

for £1 per hour. Within 3 months she earned a pilot's 'A' licence and A, B and C gliding licences. Returning to the Netherlands, and with the help of

Dutch Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

pilot Jan Leendert Plesman (later known in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

as ''The Flying Dutchman''), and by directly approaching Albert Plesman, KLM's director, she was eventually hired as a stewardess by KLM. She worked with KLM for a few months but the Second World War intervened. In 1939, she became a hostess on a packetship belonging to the Van Nievelt Goudriaan shipping line.

Second World War

By May 1940, van Zanten was in the Netherlands and offered her services as a volunteer with the Korps Vrouwelijke Vrijwilligers (KVV), the Women's Volunteer Aid Corps, to help families affected by the

German bombing of Rotterdam Rotterdam was subjected to heavy aerial bombardment by the ''Luftwaffe'' during the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II. The objective was to support the German troops fighting in the city, break Dutch resistance and force the ...

during the invasion of the Netherlands. After the fall of the Netherlands, the KVV was abolished but Van Zanten heard on a BBC radio broadcast that female transport pilots were being sought in Britain. From that moment on I knew what I wanted: I wanted to be there'''. Van Zanten made two attempts to sail to Britain via the North Sea but both failed. She eventually managed to reach Switzerland, and with help from former KLM colleagues she got to Lisbon and was able to fly to London by plane on 13 August 1942 with a group of

Engelandvaarder ''Engelandvaarder'', (literally translated as "England sailer") was the term given during the Second World War to men and women who attempted to escape from the Netherlands across over 100 miles of the North Sea to reach England and freedom. O ...

s including Wil Kalkhoven. On 1 October 1942, Queen Wilhelmina awarded her the Kruis van Verdienste (Cross of Merit) for "''het in tijd van oorlog met groot beleid voorbereiden van hun ontsnapping uit het door den vijand bezet gebied van Nederland en het moedig en beleidvol uitvoeren van hun ontsnapping en reis naar Engeland, waaraan door het optreden van de vijand groote gevaren waren verbonden''".("''having prepared, with great care, her escape from enemy-occupied territory in the Netherlands in a time of war, and for having bravely accomplished her escape and journey to England, which was fraught with great dangers because of the enemy's actions''"). Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, at the urging of the Dutch Cabinet, Queen Wilhelmina had fled to Britain and there, a

Dutch government-in-exile The Dutch government-in-exile ( nl, Nederlandse regering in ballingschap), also known as the London Cabinet ( nl, Londens kabinet), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the Germ ...

was organized. At first van Zanten worked with the Intelligence Office, where she met

Prince Bernhard , house = Lippe , father = Prince Bernhard of Lippe , mother = Armgard von Cramm , birth_date = , birth_name = Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld , birth_place = Jena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany , death_date = ...

, son-in-law of Queen Wilhelmina. He enabled her entry into the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

(WAAF). From the WAAF, van Zanten was able to join the female pilots in the

(ATA) under Commandant

Pauline Gower Pauline Mary de Peauly Gower Fahie (22 July 1910 – 2 March 1947) was a British pilot and writer who established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. Early life and education Pauline Mary de Peauly ...

. She joined the all-female ATA Pool No. 15 at

Hamble Hamble may refer to: * The River Hamble in Hampshire, England * Hamble aerodrome on the banks of the River Hamble. ** Hamble-Warsash Ferry, a ferry service on the River Hamble * Hamble-le-Rice, a village on the river Hamble, close to the city of Sou ...

, near

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, commanded by

Margot Gore Margaret Wyndham "Margot" Gore (24 January 1913 – 20 August 1993) was a leading British airwoman and osteopath. She was appointed MBE for her service as a commander in the Air Transport Auxiliary. She may be the first woman to pilot a Boeing B ...

, as a Pilot Third Officer from 18 May 1943. The work involved transporting planes from the factories to the airfields in what was difficult and often dangerous work. She was the only Dutch woman there. ATA pilots had to be prepared to fly many different types of aircraft with often no more than a handbook as a guide and often in difficult conditions. She totalled 583 flying hours during her time in the ATA and remained with the organisation until 30 September 1945. On 7 February 1947, Queen Wilhelmina awarded van Zanten the Vliegerkruis (Flying Cross) for "''distinguishing herself by acts of initiative, courage and perseverance during one or more flights in an aircraft, by being classified in the rank of officer in the field of aviation in the period from 18 May 1943 to 30 September 1945, being assigned to the rank of officer in the organisation of the "Air Transport Auxiliary", as pilot to transfer various types of planes of the Allied Air Force from factories in Great Britain to various Allied war bases and to make 583 flying hours in solo flights''". She was the only woman amongst about 700 men to be awarded the medal. King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

awarded her the British Defence Medal.

Post-war and later life

After the war, with a British friend, van Zanten flew a twin-engine M.57 Miles Aerovan with six passengers to South Africa, where she became a partner in a small aviation company. When the rickety plane broke down, she ran out of money and returned to the Netherlands, and gave up flying professionally. She became a social worker, her original course of study, later stating "''I would have loved to fly, but I don't regret being a social worker. The job was more valuable than serving meals on an airplane as a flight attendant''". She took up gliding as a hobby. Van Zanten died of a heart attack in Emmen on 19 October 2000, aged 89.

Awards and recognition

In 1990, Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten was awarded the Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Luchtvaart the Royal Dutch Aeronautical Society's golden wings pin. At the age of eighty, she had flown for more than fifty years and had over two thousand flying hours to her name. Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten was awarded four medals. * Kruis van Verdienste, 1 October 1942 * Defence Medal 1939–1945 * Vliegerkruis, 7 February 1948 *

Verzetsherdenkingskruis The Resistance Memorial Cross or Resistance Commemorative Cross ( nl, Verzetsherdenkingskruis) is a medal awarded in the Netherlands to members of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War. The medal was instituted by Royal Decree (No. 104 ...

File:Kruis van Verdienste 1941.jpg, Kruis van Verdienste File:Defence Medal 1945.jpg, Defence Medal 1945 File:Verzetsherdenkingskruis 1980.jpg, Verzetsherdenkings Kruis File:Vliegerkruis en baton.jpg, Vliegerkruis en baton

References

External links