 Wackett
Here is what I got:
The Wackett was an Australian built two seat trainer that flew for the first time in 1940.
On 26 April 1945 the ML-KNIL sought to obtain 20 Wacketts from the Australian Government. period. Whilst this procurement was originally approved by the Australian Government this was cancelled on 1 October 1945 as the Government refused to supply equipment that would be used in the war in Indonesia.
On 11 January 1946 the NEI government purchased 50 scrapped CA-6 Wacketts, including spare parts and engines, from Kingsford Smith Aviation in New South Wales. These comprised 35 dual control and 15 single control aircraft.
Due to arguments, principally due to poor contractual documentation, the first of the aircraft were not delivered to the ML-KNIL at Biak until 1 November 1946 but, as the site was found unsuitable for training purposes, the aircraft were immediately shipped back to Sydney, minus one that was lost in unloading trials. It was not until April 1947 that the aircraft arrived in Batavia packed in crates. Between April 1947 and March 1949 only 30 were assembled at Tjililitan. The remaining 20 aircraft were used as spares.
The 30 aircraft that were assembled were given serials B-301 to B-330 whilst the ‘spares’ aircraft did not receive serials.
The aircraft were used as elementary trainers at the elementary flying school at Andir and, after January 1948, at Kalidjati. With the many technical difficulties, it was a daily problem to keep 10 to 15 aircraft flying.
The fate of the individual aircraft is not known. B-308 crashed on 23 February 1949 near Kalidjati whilst B-303 was written off on 20 May 1948 near the TjiaterPass. Five aircraft were with the Depot Vliegtuigen in long term storage and were never flown after they had been assembled and test flown in January 1950.
In 1950 21 Wacketts were transferred to the AURI although other reference sources have suggested that only 5 were transferred (may be the five in long term storage). According to a letter written by the commander of the Dutch forces on 13 May 1950, 21 Wacketts were still with the ML-KNIL and none had been handed over to the AURI. That was, however, before the handover of the Kalidjati base where the Wacketts were stationed. It is likely that, if the aircraft were handed over, they were not used by the AURI as Indonesian reference sources do not make reference to this aircraft type. It has also been suggested that at the time of the handover, the AURI was advised to write the aircraft off in favour of Vultee BT-13s that arrived in June 1951.
It has, however, been reported that one of the Wacketts was extensively modified to create the early 1950’s Nurtanio NU-200 Sikumbang aircraft.
References:
E-mail from A. Eckford, 2 August 2003, re CAC Wacketts with NEIAF/AURI
E-mail from G. Tornij, 8 August 2003, re NEIAF Wacketts
Ward, O. G., De Militaire Luchtvaart Van Het KNIL 1945-1950, p.160  | 
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