No. 19 (NEI) Squadron RAAF

19e Transport Squadron No. 19 (NEI) Squadron RAAF
Active	1945–47
Country	Netherlands East Indies/Australia
Branch	ML-KNIL (1944–45) RAAF (1945–47) ML-KNIL (1947–50)
Base	RAAF Archerfield
Engagements	World War II Indonesian National Revolution
Commanders
Notable commanders	Willem Versteegh ()

19e Transport Squadron, also known as No. 19 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron, was a transport and communications unit of the Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger ("Military Aviation of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army"; ML-KNIL), formed in Australia during the final stages of World War II. The squadron was formed as a Dutch unit in late 1944 from two transport flights that had previously been based in Brisbane and Melbourne, and which had run supplies to joint Australian-NEI combat squadrons in the Northern Territory and in West Papua. Upon formation the squadron was based at Acherfield, near Brisbane. In 1945, it was transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), but returned to Dutch control in 1947 and subsequently took part in operations during the Indonesian National Revolution.

The squadron was one of four joint Australian-NEI squadrons formed during the war, and emerged from two separate transport flights formed in September 1944 by the ML-KNIL in Australia. These flights were NEI Transport Section, Brisbane (NEI-TSB), which was based at RAAF Archerfield, near Brisbane and equipped with three Lockheed Lodestars and five North American B-25 Mitchells, and NEI Transport Section, Melbourne (NEI-TSM), which operated nine Lodestars and several Mitchells, and was based at Melbourne. These units transported personnel and material to No. 18 (NEI) Squadron, a joint Australian-NEI bomber squadron based at RAAF Batchelor, Northern Territory, and No. 120 (NEI) Squadron, a fighter unit in Merauke (later in Biak), West Papua.

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