Nurtanio (third from left) among the Indonesian Air Force officers, in his right is Col.PGO Noordraven - Dispen AU
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The first time I met Nurtanio was when I attended the Technical College in Surabaya, in 1944. Ever since I was in elementary school, I was an aviation enthusiast and I was very excited upon hearing that an aeromodeling club was founded in my
school. Bearing the name Junior Aero Club (JAC) in plain English in spite of the fact that during the Japanese occupation, English and Dutch were strictly prohibited. The Japanese even assigned supervisors
(shidokan) at many schools, including mine. I only
remember the name of one of them, Mr. Imazawa. I found out from my teacher, Ibrahim Bekti who later became an Air Force Captain, that Nurtanio was the founder of the Junior Aero Club.
I looked for Nurtanio and found out that he was my senior. I expressed my desire to become JAC's member but Nurtanio turned me down because the club no longer accepted new members. I refused to give up and asked him about the club's next
meeting. "Wednesday at four in the classroom."
At meeting time, without hesitation I entered the class. I sat quietly, listened to Nurtanio's lecture on basic aerodynamics. I estimated only about 12 persons attended the meeting and I was the only listener who frequently asked and also argued.
Finally when the class was dismissed, Nurtanio asked me to stay. He said that he did not take new members because he was disappointed at the limited attendance. At first many of the new members were keen but in no time many lost interest. He told me that
I was different because of the enthusiasm and that I knew what was being discussed. It turned out that we share same interest and both of us subscribed the same Dutch aviation magazine,
Vliegwereld (Flight World). Since then we became close friend and
activists of the Junior Aero Club.
During a club meeting I met a new sport teacher's assistant, with whom Nurtanio and I discussed the art of flying. When war broke out, he was evacuated to Australia as a student pilot of the Dutch Military. His name was Iswahyudi who later
became one of the Air Force pioneers. Besides aeromodelling, Nurtanio was also passionately interested in aircraft design and construction, judging from the so many books he studied, mostly in German. He designed a
Zögling type glider Nurtanio's early obsession.
After Independence, our school was mobilized and transformed into an engineering company of the Students Army. I lost contact with Nurtanio. With my best friend and classmate Soemardjo (now a professor in engineering), we joined the Army
Aviation under Arie Sunardi, who later became AF Captain. It was located in the HVA building housing the Surabayan Ministry of Defense. This group included Yusran, A Rasyidi, and Sudarsono, who later became Air Force Officers.
A few months later I met Soemardjo again in Malang and he brought good and bad news. The good news was that Nurtanio who already had joined the Airforce H.Q. in Yogyakarta was looking for me. The bad news was that my uncle was looking for me also to inform
that my father passed away. With Capt. Suwarno, Airforce unit commander in Mojoagung, I went to Yogyakarta. Along the way he told me that at Air Force H.Q. in Yogyakarta there was a professor in charge of the technical staff who stirred my imagination that he should be bald.
When I came to Air Force H.Q., Nurtanio was really glad to see me again. Because it was for the first time I was in Yogyakarta, Nurtanio offered to spend the night in his former boarding house. The next day we went on foot to Tugu hotel "Let's have
breakfast there. But you don't have an ID card yet," Nurtanio said. Meanwhile Sugoro, boss of the hotel (who later became Air Vice-Marshal) was known to be very strict.
Then we walked cautiously in order not to attract attention and had our breakfast without incident. But on our way out our effort to slip away was unsuccessful because we got caught by the hotel boss who was sitting leisurely in a sofa in the lobby
wearing only underwear. "Nur, who's that boy?" he shouted in Dutch while gesturing with his finger. Later this incident became amusing because afterwards we found out that Sugoro was a brother of my classmate in my hometown, whom I never met before
because he went to school in another town.
Nurtanio later took me to Air Force H.Q. named Supreme H.Q. Aviation Service of the Peoples Security Force on Terban Taman Street No.1, across the Supreme H.Q. of the Peoples Security Force (the later MBT). The Air Force H.Q. building was only an
ordinary house in late 30's style, its yard could fit nicely into the auditorium of the Air Force H.Q. at Cilangkap today. And then I was introduced by Nurtanio to the Air Force Chief RS Suryadarma (in the ID card I receive later that day his job title Chief of Aviation
Service was mention but not his rank). Surya was a kind man, dressed like a scout, wearing a light browned short, light khaki shirt with reddish brown velvet civilian cap.
I was also introduced to the Head of the Technical Staff (equivalent to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Logistics), Prof.Ir.Rooseno who turned out to be not bald as I have imagine. Joining us from Bandung, a skinny tall young man with crew cut hair
and eyeglasses. He introduced himself as Wiweko Soepono who later became famous as President Director of Garuda Indonesian Airways. The three of us instantly became close friend because Mas Wiek, his nickname, turned out to be a subscriber to Vliegwereld also.
He was an airplane model club's treasurer in Bandung before the war and once had a correspondence with Nurtanio. The three of us were given an order to submit a concept of our job description. Thus Wiweko Soepeno became head of the Design/Construction and
Information Unit (previously called Propaganda but was changed because it was similar to the infamous Dr. Gobbels ministry of Propaganda under Adolf Hitler). Nurtanio was assigned to the Design/Construction sub unit, and the writer filled the Information subunit.
The three of us were in our element. Without waiting further orders, we started our jobs enthusiastically. A few days later, Halim Perdanakusuma ordered me to give a lecture on aircraft recognition at a Field Operation Intelligence course in
Kaliurang. Then I had to start radio lectures on aviation periodically.
Nurtanio worked hard in finishing the design of his glider, Wiweko also busied himself. Pak Surya who seldom gave compliments once told with a gleaming face how refreshing it was to witness us the youth discharging our duties with vigor and dedication.
