Although wounded five times in the arm, the ex-fighter pilot threw his transport into a diving spiral away from the attacking fighters to make his escape. He crashlanded the DC-3 on a sandy beach, four of his passengers dying in the event. The survivors and cargo were rescued five days later, though a packet of diamonds went missing. (For more details, see 1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown)  After recovery from his injuries Smirnov worked as a captain in the US 317th Troop Carrier Group despite attempts to ground him because of his age and chronic injuries. He would serve through war's end, and return to his civil job with KLM. His Second World War exploits brought him the Dutch Distinguished Flying Cross, the French "Croix de Guerre", and installation as Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau from the Netherlands. Back in The Netherlands, Smirnov took up old activities and began to fly on his beloved Java route again. But in 1948 Smirnov got an offer he could not resist. He was asked to pilot a World Tour. The American Atlas Supply Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, was planning a 100-day round-the-world flight on which heads of important American firms would act as their own commercial travellers. The plane in which they flew would be a travelling stockroom, loaded with colour films, scale models, give-away samples and literature in many languages. The Sky Merchant, a Douglas DC4, was to travel a route of 80.000 kilometres, crossing the equator six times, visiting all five continents, twenty-eight countries and forty-five principal cities. Smirnov was delighted. Postwar, Smirnov was eventually grounded for medical reasons after 30,000+ flying hours, but remained with KLM as a senior advisor until his retirement in August 1949. Since moving to the Netherlands in 1921 Smirnov lived In Amsterdam. In October 1925 he married the Danish actress Margot Linnet, whom he had met in June of that year in Copenhagen. In 1929, he became a naturalized Dutch citizen with the name Iwan Wasiliwitsj Smirnoff, a spelling he always used himself. He moved to Heemstede in 1936, where he named his house "De Pelikaan" after the airplane of his record flight. After Margot's death of cancer in July 1947 he married the American heiress Mina (Niki) Redwood in September 1948 in New York.