Bob van der Stok and Oorlogsvlieger van Oranje (Circus 122)

[Ruy Horta]

Another discrepency, which I find quit remarkable.

Oorlogsvlieger van Oranje, by Bob van der Stok

Bob was a former dutch fighter pilot who escaped the Germans, joined the RAF (41sqn), was shot down over France and took part in the Great Escape to end up with 322 Sqn.

I believe this book has also been translated to english.

However more to the point.

The opening chapter describes him being shot down on the morning of July 14th 1942.

One would think this to be such an important date, too important to be forgotten or mistaken, however I could not find any reference to this event on that particular date in either Norman Franks' Fighter Command Losses nor John Foreman's Fighter Command War Diaries.

The natural thing to do is start searching around that date, in case there is some mistake.

Finally both these sources establish the event on April 12th 1942, during Circus No.122.

July 14th 1942 is actually April 12th 1942.

Why such a large discrepency?

I cannot think of any printing or date annotation mix-ups that could explain this, so it left a feeling of being an intentional change of events.

Of course the question remains, why?