Volume 12, issue 1, 2010 Baltic Security and Defence Review 52 “A matter of the most vital importance”: Military Aviation in the Netherlands 1914-1920 By Wim Klinkert Throughout the First World War the Netherlands remained a neutral country. The necessity to closely follow the developments in the manner in which the war was waged was constantly present for the duration of the war. There was a real danger that the Netherlands would be drawn into the struggle against its will. In that case, the Dutch armed forces would have to have sufficient military means and tactics at its disposal in order to have a reasonable chance of success. The military command made a sustained effort to keep up with technical and tactical developments. Dutch military aviation provides an illustrative case-study of this. The questions presenting themselves are first and foremost how, in the particularly difficult circumstances of isolation resulting from its neutrality, the Netherlands managed to deploy aircraft in a military role. The problems facing the Dutch military command were the purchase of aircraft – the Netherlands did not have a national industry for military aircraft – and the need to keep up with the rapid technological and tactical developments in the belligerents’ use of the air weapon. Secondly, attention is paid to the question how the Netherlands made use of the war developments in order to attain a stronger and more independent position in the field of military aviation in the future. The importance of this matter was undisputed in military circles. Together with the machinegun, the aircraft was the single most important weapon of modern warfare in the eyes of the Dutch military. The foundation of the air branch In 1913 the Dutch Parliament approved the foundation of a military aviation service as a subdivision of the army. A year and a month later this latest addition was part of the mobilised armed forces contributing to safeguarding Dutch neutrality by way of aerial patrols. From August 1914 the Luchtvaartafdeling (LVA) comprised seven French Farman reconnaissance aircraft and two planes built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Marinus van Meel (1880-1958) 1 .