Indonesian First Steeper Military Aircraft

Helloindonesia.id – Cureng is the first military aircraft owned by Indonesia. The young warriors seized the plane, whose real name was Churen or Chukan Renssuki, from the Japanese army after they took control of the Maguwo Air Base (now the Air Base of the Indonesian Army of the Adisutjipto Air Force) in October 1945.

Orange curry. Therefore, the Japanese dub him as Aka Tombo or Red Dragonfly, referring to the type of insect commonly found in Japan. The Cureng aircraft, originally known as the Yokosuka K5Y1 aircraft and made in 1933, is a Japanese Imperial Navy (Kaigun) training aircraft. However, some of them were also used by the Kamikaze Forces when the Pacific War erupted.

The name Yokosuka refers to the name of the Japanese Navy Main Base which is now the United States Navy base in Japan. In the 1930s and during World War II, there was the Kaigun aircraft industry in Yokosuka Dai Ichi Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho.

To repair the aircraft, the air force pioneers brought in two technicians, Basir Surya and Tjarmadi, from Andir Air Base (now the Air Force Air Force Base Husein Sastranegara) Bandung, to Yogyakarta on October 25, 1945. After a day of work, they declared a Cureng plane ready to fly on October 26 1945.

Flight Test
The aircraft was tested flying on October 27, 1945 at 10:00 by Agustinus Adisutjipto accompanied by Rudjito. That was the first Indonesian military flight.

Adisutjipto, who is familiarly called Pak Adi, was chosen to fly the first flight because he has a wing pilot, namely Groot Militaire Brevet. The Indonesian Cureng plane was painted red and white covering the color of the red sphere (Hinomaru) symbol of a Japanese military aircraft.

At that time, it was not easy for the newly established AURI crew to handle Cureng. There is no manual book which is a guide for Air Force pilots to operate Cureng. The former Japanese Army aviators and technicians (Rikugun) helped provide guidance for airmen pilots and technicians.

Diligently and painstakingly, the TNI AU soldiers managed to repair 25 Cureng planes to fly in Maguwo Airfield.

The Cureng aircraft then carried out various missions, such as reconnaissance in the South Sea region, skydiving exercises, distributing fliers, and sending drugs and logistics to the regions.

Curls are classified as small biplane single-engine aircraft. The cockpit of this aircraft is tandem type with two seats (front and rear). The cockpit does not have a canopy so the pilot’s head and chest are clearly visible from the outside.

The aircraft uses a cold “Teppo” radial motor with 350 horsepower. Its maximum speed is around 212 kilometers per hour. When carrying out its mission, Cureng is equipped with a machine gun and is capable of carrying 100 kilograms of bomb.

On July 29, 1947, this legendary aircraft played an important role in the success of the Republic of Indonesia Air Force in carrying out air strikes against the Dutch military position in Semarang, Ambarawa and Salatiga.