Plt. Off. Vlotman

[FlyingDutchman]

Hi All,

My first post on this forum.

I'm trying to collect information regarding Plt. Off. Christiaan Vlotman.
He's the leading Dutch Nightfighter pilot who served with the 488sqn.

What follows is a compilation of posts on other forums:

From the www.mossie.org forum:
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Hi All,

I'm reading "Mosquito Aces of WW-2" from Osprey publishing at the moment.
In this book Plt Off. Vlotman is mentioned as the leading Dutch nightfighter pilot.
He was with 488sqn RNZAF.
Has anyone info about the Mosquito(es) he flew? ME-? and serial number(s).

Regards

The Flying Dutchman.
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The reply:
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Hi:

I've notes for him as having been on NF.XIII HK367 on 3/4 Feb, 1944, and NF.XIII HK365 on 21/22 March, 1944. I have no registration number for his claim on 19/20 June 1944, nor do I have any of the ME- squadron letters.

You can find some details of Vlotman's claims at:

http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2-2RAF/c8.html

Cheers,

Mark
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Hi Mark,

Small world we live in; posted this request on a few forums and within a few weeks we heard that Plt. Off. Vlotman is still alive (93 years old).

Regards,

The Flying Dutchman.
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Hi Mark,

A little update on Plt. Off. Vlotman.

Check this link for a few pictures :
http://www.1java.nl/showthread.php?p=35656#post35656

Its Dutch but in short, this is an attempt to translate:

In the black&white picture you see 4 black crosses over the tailmarking.
If you look at the sepia tone picture you see on the same location a dark line which seem to be the crosses. If i'm correct this plane could be the same Mosquito. Mosquito NF-30 ME-Z.
Under the left arm of Plt. Off. Vlotman (in the B&W photo) you see the last number of the serialnumber which seems to be a 3 or an 8.
Does anyone know the complete serialnumber of this plane?

The Sepia tone picture comes from this site:

http://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Ron%...s%20Photos.htm

Its quit rewarding to research these things.
Familymembers of Plt. Off. Vlotman have contacted me via the forum in the upper link, and are very gratefull for the information.

Regards,

The Flying Dutchman

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From my own sources:

Osprey Aircraft of the Aces - 69:
Page 22:
One of the handfull of Mosquito pilots to enjoy success during February (1944) was Sgt. Chris Vlotman of No. 488 Sqn, who claimed his first (een Dornier 217) of four kills on the 3rd in (Mosquito) NF XIII HK367. Paired up with Sgt. J.L. Wood his navigator, Vlotman ended the war as the leading Dutch nightfighter pilot.

Osprey Combat Aircraft - 9:
Page 20:
Flt. Sgt C J Vlotman and Sgt J L Wood of No. 488 sqn. also got 'a pair' in (Mosquito) NF XIII HK365 when they destroyed a Ju 188 and a Ju 88 on 21/22 March (1944)

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Can anyone add information on the Mosquitoes flown by Plt. Off. Vlotman?

[Hans Nauta]

Hi fellow Dutchman,

Did you have contact with Erwin van Loo of the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie (Dutch Institute of Military History)?

He's specialised on Dutch aircrew in RAF service and might be able to help you much further.

Please contact me offline if you like to have his emailaddress.

Cheers,
Hans Nauta

[Flying_Dutchman]

Hi Hans,

Thx for the reply, i'll try to contact him on this matter.

Regards,

[Flavio]

Hi Flying Dutchman,

I made a long research about Plt. Off. Vlotman, due off I am very fond of the top aces of each country involved in the WW2, and, as far as I know, Vlotman is the Duch top scorer (even if he shared the title with TFA Buys) with 4 confirmed kills.
According with "Those Other Eagles" by C.Shores and "de Haviland Mosquito" by M.Bowman, Vlotman gained the following victories all with No 488 Sqn:
04/02/44 04.52 1 Do17 flying Mosquito MkXIII HK367
22/03/44 00.20-00.55 2 Ju88s flying Mosquito MkXIII HK365
20/06/44 02.20 1 Fw190 flying Mosquito MkXIII MM515.

Regarding his personal planes, the information I found are very poor. I also wrote to the Royal Netherlands AF History Unit, but the only photograph they sent me is that one very famous, and several time published, showing Vlotman and his radar operator Wood near their Mosquito with 4 kills on the tail. Any way from this picture is clear visible the last digit of the serial number: "5". The only other information I found is one decal sheet from "Dutch Decal" (number 48016), with a B/W drawing of what is supposed to be Vlotman's personal plane: Z°ME HK365 with 4 kill markings on the tail; the wonderfull photo you quote in your post, showing for the first time (for me of course) Z°ME seems to confirm this B/W profile.
Any way in my opinion the serial number of this plane is more probably MM515 and not HK365; Vlotman infact used HK365 three months before these pictures were made (the plane has 4 kill markings and the D-Day bands, so they were made at the end of June '44), and the first digit of Z°ME seems more likely "MM" than "HK."

I hope these information may help you; do you know if Mr. Vlotman wrote a book about his war memoirs? Please any information about him will be welcome.

Regards
Flavio

[Frank Olynyk]

Vlotman's first claim was in HK367; 2nd and 3rd in HK365; fourth in MM515. 365 is a Mosquito Mk XII; the other two are XIII.

Frank.

[Flying_Dutchman]

Hi guys (Frank & Flavio),

Big thx for the info!!

Regards,

[Christiaan]

Originally Posted by Flavio

Hi Flying Dutchman,

I made a long research about Plt. Off. Vlotman, due off I am very fond of the top aces of each country involved in the WW2, and, as far as I know, Vlotman is the Duch top scorer (even if he shared the title with TFA Buys) with 4 confirmed kills.
According with "Those Other Eagles" by C.Shores and "de Haviland Mosquito" by M.Bowman, Vlotman gained the following victories all with No 488 Sqn:
04/02/44 04.52 1 Do17 flying Mosquito MkXIII HK367
22/03/44 00.20-00.55 2 Ju88s flying Mosquito MkXIII HK365
20/06/44 02.20 1 Fw190 flying Mosquito MkXIII MM515.

Regarding his personal planes, the information I found are very poor. I also wrote to the Royal Netherlands AF History Unit, but the only photograph they sent me is that one very famous, and several time published, showing Vlotman and his radar operator Wood near their Mosquito with 4 kills on the tail. Any way from this picture is clear visible the last digit of the serial number: "5". The only other information I found is one decal sheet from "Dutch Decal" (number 48016), with a B/W drawing of what is supposed to be Vlotman's personal plane: Z°ME HK365 with 4 kill markings on the tail; the wonderfull photo you quote in your post, showing for the first time (for me of course) Z°ME seems to confirm this B/W profile.
Any way in my opinion the serial number of this plane is more probably MM515 and not HK365; Vlotman infact used HK365 three months before these pictures were made (the plane has 4 kill markings and the D-Day bands, so they were made at the end of June '44), and the first digit of Z°ME seems more likely "MM" than "HK."

I hope these information may help you; do you know if Mr. Vlotman wrote a book about his war memoirs? Please any information about him will be welcome.

Regards
Flavio

Flavio,

This is my first post on this forum (thanks Dutchman).
What I tell might be shocking: I'm named after mr. Vlotman. He is the uncle of my mother and he is still alive! (he is 91 years) At the moment there are people working on his memoirs (hopefully it will be completed soon).
He scored 4 planes and an unknown number of V1/V2's. To bad he does not want to tell much about the war. For him it is a closed book. Luckely he kept his logbooks and diaries from that period, but he let no one read them. My parents told him that when he dies (and I hope that it will come over 50 years or so) they want to have them so his memorie will never got lost.

I hope this is good information for you for now.

Christiaan Degenkamp

[Flying_Dutchman]

Hi Frank,

You claim that HK365 is a MkXII Mosquito.

Mossie.org says different; a MkXIII (HK365 and HK367):
http://www.mossie.org/production/res...e=1&offset=176

MM515:
http://www.mossie.org/production/res...e=1&offset=301

Info Mossie.org:

HK365 Mk-XIII
HK367 Mk-XIII
MM515 Mk-XIII

What's the source of your info?

Regards

[Brian]

Hi Christiaan

I have no record of Chris Vlotman shooting down any V-1s - are you able to elaborate?

Cheers
Brian

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by Christiaan

Flavio,

This is my first post on this forum (thanks Dutchman).
What I tell might be shocking: I'm named after mr. Vlotman. He is the uncle of my mother and he is still alive! (he is 91 years) At the moment there are people working on his memoirs (hopefully it will be completed soon).
He scored 4 planes and an unknown number of V1/V2's. To bad he does not want to tell much about the war. For him it is a closed book. Luckely he kept his logbooks and diaries from that period, but he let no one read them. My parents told him that when he dies (and I hope that it will come over 50 years or so) they want to have them so his memorie will never got lost.

I hope this is good information for you for now.

Christiaan Degenkamp

Dear Christiaan

any news about the book (or article) on Vlotman?

thanks
Flavio