De Vliegdienst van de Karel Doorman
Aircraft Carrier Karel Doorman on board flight service
ModelFan
Review

Authors: Tim van Kampen, Prudent Staal, Coen van den Heuvel, Luuk Boerman  
Publisher: Dutch Profile
ISBN: 9789490092511
Soft cover, Dutch/English language
Published: 2024  
Pages: 72
Price: 17,95 euro.

As a Subtitle: "The Naval Aviation Service and Others Aboard the Karel Doorman (1948–1968)."

A detour for Dutch Profile? Is it now about the “Fat Boat”? A little yes and a lot no. Nowhere is it carved in stone that Dutch Profiles must exclusively focus on aircraft! When writing about the air service aboard the Karel Doorman, you're naturally also writing a bit about the Royal Netherlands Navy’s second aircraft carrier.
This edition of Dutch Profile is a slice of history about the use of R81, the pennant number of the “Big Ship,” in the Dutch Navy from 1948 to 1968. A brief mention is also made of the first Karel Doorman, the QH1 (ex-HMS Nairana), in service from 1946 to 1948, which carried Fairey Fireflies.

The book focuses on what was based on it: Avengers, Fireflies, Sea Furies, Sea Hawks, S-55s, S-58s, Trackers, and a few other types. A large number of black-and-white photos are included, along with a good selection of colour images. Tim van Kampen is responsible for the historical narrative, supplemented by contributors such as Prudent Staal. It naturally also covers the various aircraft squadrons (VSQs), also known as onboard squadrons, and details the different voyages. Coen van den Heuvel addresses, as a final topic, the tests with Grumman Trackers from a U.S. Navy unit aboard the Doorman to determine whether the “Fat Boat” could be equipped with them. The answer: yes.

This edition contains 85 black-and-white photos and 35 colour photos, of which the photos of rocket assisted take off gear (RATOG) are particularly special, as are those of the dismantled C-47 of Prince Bernhard on the flight deck of the Doorman. The ship transported the personal plane to San Juan on Puerto Rico. A small error; on page 68, a photo caption describes a Lynx landing on the current Joint Support Ship (JSS) Karel Doorman (A833). While the Lynx is correct, the ship shown is actually the M-Frigate Karel Doorman (F-827).
Luuk Boerman once again delivers four pages of detailed illustrations.
As with all other Dutch Profile editions, this release is bilingual in Dutch and English.

Conclusion
A certainly interesting edition of Dutch Profile that for once is not about a specific type and because they are on board an aircraft carrier you also get to know something about the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Fat Boat. For me, there is no discussion. Dutch Profile stands for quality publications in the sector for which they are intended. Enough information about the chosen subject to get a good impression of it, supplemented with interesting photos, all in a simple compressed format of about 80 pages maximum. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether he/she wants the collection to be complete or just the specific topics within the sphere of interest. The modellers among us will certainly find inspiration in terms of photo material.

Thanks to Dutch Profile for providing a review copy.