Deze tekst in het Nederlands...
Title: Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon, Marine Luchtvaartdienst/Royal Neth. Naval Air Service
Authors: Nico Geldof, Prudent Staal, Luuk Boerman
ISBN 978-94-90092-38-2
Publisher: Dutch Profile Publications (2022)
Format: 31 pages, colour and b/w photos and illustrations
Price: approx. € 18,-
Perhaps a less well-known type within Dutch aviation this Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon used by the MLD but certainly belongs in the list of Dutch Profile(s).
The start of NATO brought extra defense efforts for the members so Under the MDAP (Mutual Defense Assistance Program) the Netherlands received 18 Harpoons We had actually hoped for Neptune’s but unfortunately this did not happen. A promise to deliver 34 aircraft was never fulfilled, so it remained at 18.
I myself only knew the Harpoon from the fact that the aircraft flew for the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service but this profile certainly solves that problem. It shows the service time of the type excellently, even if it was only brief. The first Harpoon arrived in July 1951 and the last one left service in mid-1955, with some exceptions.
For me certainly interesting are the many photos from the archive of Prudent Staal. For modelers, the Harpoon is actually a boring subject at least as far as the colors are concerned. "overall US gloss Sea Blue" hence only two drawings in this edition. I do think Robbert Das' drawing of a completely open Harpoon is cool. Robbert and Rudolf Das (twins) were technical draughtsmen who became famous for this type of drawing within the aviation world. For the "What If" enthusiasts, Luuk Boerman has added a profile of a Harpoon in the Standard NATO scheme for maritime patrol aircraft of a medium sea grey top, matte white and gloss white. The Harpoon never flew in these colors the Neptune did though.
This edition is also bilingual, Dutch, and English where the photos are not repeated but run over the two languages. A welcome addition about a type about which not much has been written in Dutch aviation literature.
Thanks to Dutch Profile for making the review copy available
Reviewer: Fred Bachofner
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Photo credit: NIMH
TIP: check out our IPMS Harpoon information pages here and Harpoon Walk arounds...
this article was published Summer 2022