Monumen Perjuangan TNI AU, Military monument in Bangunharjo, Indonesia.
Monumen Perjuangan TNI AU is a white hexagonal cone-shaped pillar 4.5 meters tall, topped by a Garuda with outstretched wings. A granite slab at its front bears the names of three Air Force pioneers killed in 1947: Agustinus Adisutjipto, Abdulrachman Saleh and Adi Soemarmo Wirjokusumo.
The memorial was built by the Air Force (AURI) and inaugurated on 1 March 1948, initiated by Air Force Chief Marshal R. Soerjadi Soerjadarma, to commemorate the shooting down of a Dakota VT-CLA on 29 July 1947 by two Dutch Kitty Hawk fighters. The aircraft, chartered from an Indian airline, was carrying medical supplies for the Indonesian Red Cross and was about to land at Maguwo airfield when it was attacked; three Air Force pioneers died: Agustinus Adisutjipto, Abdulrachman Saleh and Adi Soemarmo Wirjokusumo. The date became Hari Bhakti TNI AU.
Every 29 July, the date the Dakota VT-CLA was shot down, the Indonesian Air Force marks Hari Bhakti TNI AU with a ceremony at the monument. The site is also called Monumen Ngoto after the nearby village, and its name was changed from that to Monumen Perjuangan TNI AU in 2000 by Air Force Chief of Staff order Skep/78/VII/2000.
The site is located near the international airport and can be reached easily from Jalan Imogiri Barat main road. Visitors can walk around the memorial at their own pace and read the inscriptions clearly.
The Dakota VT-CLA was an Indian airliner chartered to carry medicine for the Indonesian Red Cross when two Dutch Kitty Hawks shot it down on 29 July 1947 as it approached Maguwo airfield. A replica of its tail, inaugurated on 28 July 2006 under Air Force chief Herman Prayitno, now stands at the monument.
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