Piper Cub PH-LIK in Dutch military livery 13092006

Piper J3C-65 Cub c/n 12162 PH-LIK in Dutch military livery at Soesterberg AB in The Netherlands on 13 September 2006. The aircraft is painted in the colors of the Military Aviation Section of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army (in Dutch: "Militaire Luchtvaart - Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger" or ML-KNIL) with the pseudo military registration "R344". The civil registration is vaguely visible under the horizontal stabilizer. Piper Cubs were used in the former Dutch colony of the East Indies (now Indonesia) in the period 1945-1950 during policing actions against Indonesian "insurgents" (now regarded as freedom fighters). The bright blue roundel under the cockpit window is the emblem of 17 VARWA squadron, that was founded on 15 July 1946 in the, then, Dutch East Indies, using Piper L-4J Cubs. VARWA is the Dutch abbreviation for "Verkennings- en ARtillerie WAarneming`, or, in English: Reconnaissance and Artillery Observation. Pipers and Austers that were used in the reconnaissance and observation role had the Dutch red-white-blue flag as national marking, but in a wide white frame so it could not be mistaken for the Indonesian red and white marking. The original R344 was a Piper L-4J Grasshopper with c/n 13766 and USAF serial number 45-5026. It was delivered to the Dutch on 7 June 1947 and was handed over to the Indonesian army (AURIS) on 10 June 1950. An image of Piper Grasshopper PH-UCS with pseudo Dutch military marking R345 was posted to this EnoAeroPics gallery on 29 April 2011.