Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten

Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten (22 June 1911 – 19 October 2000) was a Dutch pilot and social worker who was a member of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War and a pilot in the British Air Transport Auxiliary. She was the only woman to receive the Vliegerkruis, the Airman's Cross.

Early life and education Wreath laying on behalf of the Engelandvaarders by Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten and Peter Tazelaar during the internment of Queen Wilhelmina in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten was born in Hillegom on 22 June 1911 and grew up with six brothers. Her father was a bulb grower and the family business still exists as Royal Van Zanten. She attended a boarding school in Zetten, where she met fellow student Maria Sluis, with whom she remained friends until the end of her life. Together they went to study at the Christelijk Instituut voor Christelijke Sociale Arbeid (the Christian Social Work Institute) in Amsterdam. They lived in an attic and travelled a lot, including riding on ox-cart to the Pyrenees. Van Zanten worked as an au pair in France for a year and a half, and sailed alone on cargo ships to visit her brother in America.

Van Zanten wanted to become an air stewardess for KLM, the Netherlands' flag carrier airline, but was rejected in 1936 as she did not have a gymnasium diploma (secondary education qualification). Disappointed, she went on a world tour with money she had recently inherited from her parents. She travelled through the United States, Japan, China, Korea, and Indonesia, where she first went up in an aircraft, before returning home. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, at the urging of the Dutch Cabinet, Queen Wilhelmina had fled to Britain and there, a Dutch government-in-exile was organized.

At first van Zanten worked with the Intelligence Office, where she met Prince Bernhard, son-in-law of Queen Wilhelmina. He enabled her entry into the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). as a Pilot Third Officer from 18 May 1943. The work involved transporting planes from the factories to the airfields in what was difficult and often dangerous work.

Ida Laura Veldhuyzen van Zanten was awarded four medals.

Kruis van Verdienste, 1 October 1942