Where Nico Geldhof’s book DE VLIEGTUIGEN VAN 320 SQUADRON describes in detail the aircraft of this famous Dutch squadron in British service, he describes in this second volume the operations with these planes.

The book starts with a detailed account of the operations during five days war of the Marineluchtvaartdienst against invading German forces. With the personnel and Fokker T-VIIIW floatplanes escaping to England. the squadrons 320 and 321 were formed operating under Coastal Command. The T-VIIIW was soon replaced by the Lockheed Hudson and both squadrons, later joined into the single squadron 320, flew many missions within the European war theatre. Later in the war, 320 was placed under the supervision of Bomber Command when it was re-equipped with B-25 Mitchell bombers. The missions continued for the full five year and 320 squadron ended the war with the De Havilland Mosquito

Nico Geldhof gives in this hard cover book at A4 size a very detailed story of the operations from 320 squadron,. At the end of the book, a bitter sum is given: 163 people were killed and 71 aircraft were lost during 5475 sorties and 14,346 flying hours!

While DE VLIEGTUIGEN VAN 320 SQUADRON was already a thick book, we can only describe this book as HUGE with its 500 pages and more than 400 photographs, most of them rare and from personal collections! The price of this standard work is high: almost EURO 70. However, both ‘flagships’ of the publisher Geromy are really worth buying as reference works! Just like the first volume, knowledge of the Dutch language is essential since no English text or summary is given.

Book details:
Title De Operaties van 320 squadron
Author Nico Geldhof
Publisher Geromy B.V., Gageldijk 83- P.O. Box 1040, 3600 BA Maarssen -The Netherlands
Website www.geromy.nl
ISBN 90-672-0396-3
Price EURO 69.90 [excluding shipment costs]

Nico Braas

Sample publication is provided by Geromy B.V.