Indonesian airman and National Hero of Indonesia
Air Vice-Marshal
Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma
(18 November 1922 ? 14 December 1947), better known as
Halim Perdanakusuma
, was an Indonesian airman and
National Hero of Indonesia
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma was born on 18 November 1922 in
Sampang
, Madura, as the third child of the five children of Abdulgani Wongsotaruno, a prime minister and writer, and Raden Ayu Aisah.
His maternal grandfather, Raden Ngabeki Notosubroto, was a
wedana
in
Gresik
.
His younger brother, Makki, followed his footsteps as an airman and later was married to actress
Indriati Iskak
.
After attending elementary and middle school at schools for native Indonesians,
[5]
he attended the Opleidingschool voor Inlandsche Ambtenaren (a school for the training of
native
officials) in
Magelang
.
However, he dropped out in his second year and joined the Naval Academy of
Surabaya
to answer the Dutch colonial government's call for a militia.
[7]
After finishing the academy, he spent some time in the
Dutch Colonial Navy's
information department.
[7]
At the time of the
Japanese invasion of the Indies
in 1942, against which he had been trained to fight, Perdanakusuma was in Britain, training in navigation with the
Royal Canadian Air Force
; as part of his training, he flew on 44 missions throughout Europe, including flying
Avro Lancasters
in bombing missions over Nazi Germany.
[7]
After the end of World War II, Perdanakusuma returned to
newly independent
Indonesia.
He joined the nascent
military
(then called the
Tentara Keamanan Rakyat
; People Security Army) under Commodore
Suryadi Suryadarma
; together with
Agustinus Adisucipto
and
Abdul Rahman Saleh
, he was tasked with organizing the
Indonesian Air Force
.
In 1947, Perdanakusuma was promoted to air commodore and tasked with establishing a branch of the air force in
Bukittinggi
,
West Sumatra
; to complete his task he penetrated the Dutch blockade of the island.
[5]
Air Officer
Iswahyudi
was also tasked to assist with managing the base.
[7]
At the time, the various air units in Sumatra were managed individually and under the command of the
army
; Perdanakusuma and Iswahyudi proceeded to unite them into their own branch.
On 17 August 1947, he led paratroops into
Borneo
. He was married to Koesdalina in
Madiun
, on 24 August 1947, and later moved to
Sumatra
to continued the task of building the air force there.
That December, Perdanakusuma was ordered to fly to Thailand with Iswahyudi to pick up medical supplies. On their return trip on 14 December, the
Avro Anson
they were flying stalled, leading it to crash outside of Tanjung Hantu,
Malaysia
, killing both of them.
Perdanakusuma's body was originally buried in
Lumut
, Malaysia, but later relocated to
Kalibata Heroes Cemetery
in 1975. His only child, Ian Santoso, was born after his death and named after his deceased friend during the
World War
II in
Europe
.
Santoso later went to became a pilot and joined Indonesian Air Force, following his father footsteps.
Legacy
[
edit
]
Perdanakusuma was declared a
National Hero of Indonesia
on 9 August 1975 with Presidential Decree Number 063/TK/Year 1975.
[12]
With this declaration came a posthumous promotion to air vice marshal.
Halim Perdanakusuma Airport
in Jakarta is named after him.
[12]
An interchange railway station
near the airport which serves the
Greater Jakarta LRT
and
Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail
is also named after him.
References
[
edit
]
- Footnotes
- Online sources
- Bibliography
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