Koene Dirk Parmentier (27 September 1904 – 21 October 1948) was a pilot of the Dutch national airline

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 ...

. Parmentier worked at Dutch aircraft manufacturer

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

from 1920 to 1924. During his military service, he obtained his pilot's license in 1927, after which he joined KLM in 1929. In 1934 Parmentier flew KLM's

Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which b ...

with registration number PH-AJU ''Uiver'' ("Stork") in the

MacRobertson Air Race The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race) took place in October 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, and th ...

from England to Australia. The ''Uiver'' was KLM's first aircraft to consist entirely of metal. With the only big passenger aircraft to compete in the nearly 20,000-kilometer air race, Parmentier achieved an honorable second place with his crew. After the outbreak of World War II, Parmentier moved to England with the DC-3 Egret (PH-ARZ) on May 13, 1940. There he led the KLM crews who had fled to England with a number of DC-3s and one DC-2 and were deployed by

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

on the Bristol-Lisbon scheduled service. On April 19, 1943, the DC-3 ''Ibis'' (PH-ALI), piloted by captain Parmentier, was shot at by six fighters of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

en route from

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Parmentier and his crew managed to escape, they managed to ground the damaged plane with unharmed passengers in England. For his merits during the war, Parmentier was awarded several military awards, including his appointment on 18 March 1943 as

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) for his deployment and leadership of the KLM section within BOAC under very difficult circumstances and the Kite Cross (24 June 1943) for his performance during the attack on 19 April 1943. After the war, he first became chief flight service at KLM and a short time later head of flight company. The

1948 KLM Constellation air disaster A KLM Lockheed L-049 Constellation airliner (named ''Nijmegen'' and registered PH-TEN) crashed into high ground near Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Scotland, on 20 October 1948; all 40 aboard died. A subsequent inquiry found that the accident was li ...

occurred the night of 20 to 21 October 1948, when Parmentier crashed with the

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its press ...

''Nijmegen'' (PH-TEN) at

Prestwick airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...

in Scotland, when the aircraft hit a high-voltage cable during bad weather and then crashed. Parmentier is buried in the Rhijnhof cemetery in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

References

{{commons category, Koene Dirk Parmentier 1904 births 1948 deaths Dutch aviators