112 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21
(Indonesian Air Force Research, Development
and Production Depot), to which Nurtanio, by
now a Major, was posted.
As part of its withdrawal, The Netherlands
sent a military mission to Indonesia to supervise
the modernisation of the AURI, which up
until that point had been struggling to operate
a dilapidated fleet of ex-Japanese military
aircraft rescued from a dump near Yogyakarta
in 1945, including Tachikawa Ki-9s and Ki-55s,
Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusas, Kawasaki Ki-48s,
Mitsubishi Ki-46 and Ki-51s and one or two
Kawanishi H6K flying-boats. Thus the AURI
was delighted when substantial amounts of
former RNEIAF equipment was transferred to
its inventory, including North American F-51
Mustangs, T-6 Texans and B-25 Mitchells, a
Noorduyn Norseman, some Piper Cubs, Douglas
C-47 transports and a few Consolidated PBY-5A
amphibians, on June 21, 1950.
The Bee
With many of the new nation’s more remote
islands yet to be brought fully to heel after five
years of often violent political turmoil, it was
decided to design and build an indigenous light
single-seat ground-support aircraft that could
be used to quell unrest among the country’s
17,000 islands. Accordingly, Nurtanio set about
designing the NU-200, named Sikumbang (Bee),
at Bandung. Powered by a single 200 h.p.
de Havilland Gipsy Six inverted air-cooled
piston engine driving a two-bladed fixed-
pitch propeller, the first and only Sikumbang
prototype, serial “X-01”, made its maiden flight
from Husein Sastranagara Air Force Base at
Bandung on August 1, 1954.
The Sikumbang’s cantilevered low wing
employed a NACA 23012 aerofoil of one-piece
two-spar all-wood construction with plywood
covering, fitted with electrically operated
split-type flaps and statically balanced ailerons.
The tail surfaces were also plywood-skinned
wooden structures with a trim-tab fitted to the
rudder and the port elevator. The fuselage was
fabricated in welded 4130 steel (chromoly) with
metal skins, and the undercarriage was of fixed
tricycle type with cantilever oleo shock struts
and a non-steerable nosewheel.
To celebrate the design, construction and
maiden flight of Indonesia’s first all-metal
aircraft, Nurtanio made plans to fly the
prototype over the 9,600ft (2,900m) summit
of Mount Merapi, near Yogyakarta. However,
Nurtanio’s longtime friend Salatun reportedly
had a “bad feeling” about the flight and begged
his friend not to proceed with the idea, Salatun
explaining that Nurtanio was too valuable for
Indonesia’s fledgling aircraft industry to lose.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal
Suryadi Suryadarma, agreed and ordered the
cancellation of the flight. Disappointed, Nurtanio
flew the Sikumbang over Bandung instead,
the engine spluttering to a halt as he came into
land at Husein Sastranagara. Had he made the
flight to Mount Merapi, an emergency landing
in the mountainous terrain would have been
impossible; Salatun’s “bad feeling” had probably
saved his friend’s life.
Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, Nurtanio felt
the Sikumbang could be improved, and, after
extensive testing of the type, he turned his hand
to an improved version, the NU-225. With the
Gipsy engine and wooden propeller replacedABOVE The sole NU-200 Sikumbang aloft after its first flight in August 1954. Bearing a large “X” on the tail to
denote its experimental status, the “Bee” also carried the nation’s red-and-white pentagon marking and the serial
“01”. The bare-metal fuselage was wrapped with a yellow band and the upper surfaces and fin were orange-red.