NEDERLANDSE SPITFIRES
In cijfers en letters 
ModelFan

Author: Harry van der Meer  
Publisher: Lanasta – Walburg Pers 
ISBN: 9789464565287
Hardcover
Published: 2025  
Pages: 308
Price: euro. 39,95

My memories of Harry van der Meer, aka Mr. Spitfire, go back to the early days of the IPMS Netherlands. If you needed an extra article, they shouted "ask Harry, he can write something on Spitfires!" And then an article was always send in. It is not surprising that in 1988 Harry's book 'Dutch Spitfires, A Technical Study' was published. His comment on this book was that everything was now published with this book! Nothing could be further from the truth. On the advice of Mr. Flash Aviation Coen van den Heuvel, Harry went back to work to investigate everything again, also helped by documents from Coen, new information came to light and a new book was born. In November 2016, after more than 8 years of work, "Dutch Spitfires In numbers and letters" was published by Lanasta. Now, in 2025 the second modified edition, a pill of unchanged 308 pages again published by Lanasta (imprint of the Walburg Press).
 
This second revised edition will undoubtedly have some changes, but it has remained 308 pages. The review is therefore based for both Lanasta books compared to the 1988 edition. In addition to the existing information, a number of topics have now been added to this publication.
Harry discovered that the Spitfires that were assigned to Dutch pilots in the service of the RAF had to be paid for by the Dutch government. Furthermore, the Netherlands also paid for the costs of the maintenance of those aircraft, so he rightly decided that all those aircraft can also be counted as Dutch Spitfires. To make the book even more complete, the names of the pilots who flew Spitfires during the war have been included, including some Dutch women. The book also contains a list of Spitfires that crashed in The Netherlands during the war, which was made available after years of research by the Study Group Air War 39-45. Finally, a part of the Operations Record Book of No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron is included for those who want to know what the aircraft letter of a 322 Spitfire was during operational flights.

In total, this book gives an overview of the Spitfires that were used by the Netherlands from 1943 to the present. The compilation is based on archives, correspondence, interviews with the users and their families, research by third parties and own research. But then explicitly with the mention "as far as known". Tomorrow another archive can open with even more additional facts, we have seen that before. After a statement and foreword, four chapters follow: Introduction, RAF period in WW II, Dutch period 1945-1957 and finally the still flying Spitfire in the Netherlands of the Royal Netherlands Air Force Historical Flight, which is based at Volkel. The colour photos also mainly relate to this aircraft. Of course the part of the Operations Record Book of No. 322 Squadron as mentioned earlier. The book is a reference work and therefore contains lists and tables “glued” together by text, so don't expect many extensive stories in it, but a large number of interesting photos of Spitfires and beautiful color profiles by Luuk Boerman.


Conclusion
This second modified reprint has a new photo on the cover. Perhaps some things have also been adjusted in the text. It remains a reference work as the first version was, so everything that is currently known about Dutch Spitfires can be found in it. If you don't find it, Harry doesn't know (yet). You can certainly discuss  the adding of the Operations Record book of 322 sqn. Part. With 130 pages, it is 2/5 part of the book and that is quite a lot. They are scanned copies, unfortunately not always legible. This section is printed on standard plain paper rather than the sturdy high-gloss quality paper of the rest of the book and can also affect readability. Whether or not is a choice and that choice has been made. That does not detract from the fact that every Spitfire fanatic should not have this book on their shelves alone,... but also have to read it!

Thanks to Lanasta/Walburg Press for the review copy