Singapore Van Helsdingen's squadron arrived in
Singapore on 9 December 1941 with 9-12
Brewster Buffalo fighters and was stationed at
Kallang Airfield. They first went into action on 12 January 1942 during a
Japanese air raid over Singapore. At 10:00 hours, a formation of Japanese bombers appeared, escorted by five
Ki-27 Nate fighters. They were intercepted by three Dutch Buffalos, who succeeded in chasing them away, damaging one of the bombers. When they returned in the afternoon, Van Helsdingen and two other pilots were scrambled to intercept them, encountering nine Ki-27s. Four of them were shot down, one by Van Helsdingen, with the Dutch losing one Buffalo. When the Japanese raided Singapore again on 15 January, Van Helsdingen and two other pilots took off. They ran into an overwhelming number of
A6M Zeros, scoring no kills and losing one Buffalo and its pilot. His squadron returned to
Java on 18 January, missing out on the
Battle of Singapore. Van Helsdingen led eight Buffalos to Semplak, while 23 others flew to Andir and Tjilitian.
Balikpapan Van Helsdingen was awarded his first Military William Order on 11 February 1942, for carrying out attacks against
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ships in the
Battle of Balikpapan on 23 January. Twenty Buffalo fighters carrying two 50 kg bombs each escorted nine
Martin B-10 bombers to attack a fleet of IJN ships in the
Makassar Strait. Eight hits were scored on four Japanese ships and one destroyer, sinking two transports, with the Dutch losing one Buffalo.
Lembang Van Helsdingen was killed on his 35th birthday by an A6M Zero while providing
air support to
Royal Dutch East Indies Army forces fighting in
Lembang with three other Buffalo aircraft on 7 March 1942. Despite the Japanese having an almost complete air superiority over Java, he nevertheless chose to take off from Andir airfield. He ordered another pilot to stand down and hand over his Buffalo aircraft The Dutch forces in Lembang surrendered the next day. All four Dutch pilots were awarded the
Military William Order, while Van Helsdingen and Scheffer (who died a
prisoner of war) were
posthumously awarded the honour on 14 July 1948. ==References==