Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov

Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov, or Iwan Smirnoff (; 30 January 1895 – 28 October 1956), was a Russian World War I flying ace and naturalized Dutch aviator who pioneered the Europe to South East Asia routes. He was born to a poor peasant family, and later became an officer in the Imperial Russian Air Service. After surviving infantry combat, he trained as a pilot, and was subsequently credited with 11 aerial victories during World War I. When the October Revolution ended his participation in the war, he deserted and became an itinerant pilot. He served short spells in the Royal Air Force, the Volunteer Army of Anton Denikin, Handley Page and SNETA. The Russian emigrant subsequently piloted for KLM for the next 25 years, pioneering air routes to the Dutch East Indies in the process. In December 1941, Smirnov returned to military flying during the frenzied air evacuation of Dutch nationals. After the Dutch East Indies were overrun by the Japanese, he joined the U.S. Air Transport Command. He served through the war's end and returned to KLM.

Early life and World War I infantry service Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov He received little schooling; his family existed in a state of near-serfdom. The peasantry to which he belonged could not even work in a local factory without continuing to farm the community's land. It was a situation with little chance for improving one's life.

At the outbreak of World War I Smirnov enrolled as a volunteer in the 96th Omsk Infantry Regiment. After a short spell of training, the unit went into ferocious combat in the Battle of Łódź; the barely-trained regiment suffered severe casualties both from its well-schooled German foe and from the foul weather. Concerning this period, Smirnov later remarked, "We were thrown in as mere gun fodder...." He also noted that his contingent of 90 soldiers was rapidly reduced to 19 by casualties. In 1940, Smirnov was permanently posted in Indonesia by KLM. In 1929, he became a naturalized Dutch citizen with the name Iwan Wasiliwitsj Smirnoff, a spelling he always used himself.

Honours and awards Cross of St. George, 2nd and 4th class and Saint George Sword (Russia) Order of St. Anna, 4th and 3rd classes (Russia) Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd class with swords (Russia) Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class with swords (Russia) Order of the White Eagle (Serbia) Croix de Guerre (France) Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) Airman's Cross (Netherlands)