Tamiya 1/32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIe
By Ronald Dorenbos
The model depicts the ‘Spit’ flown early 1945 by the CO of No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron: Squadron Leader Abraham (‘Bob’ or ‘Bram’) van der Stok. He was a pre-war pilot in the Dutch Military Aviation Arm, flying the Fokker D.XXI. He claimed at least 2 victories over the German invaders in May 1940. After the Dutch capitulation he managed to escape to the UK in 1941. Flying Spitfires with No. 41 Sqd, he was shot down in 1942 over France. He was 1 of only 3 POWs who successfully escaped from Stalag Luft III in Sagan during ‘The Great Escape’ in 1944. Upon return to the UK he assumed command of No. 322 Sqd in March 1945. During his command, the squadron flew from B.85 (RAF Schijndel) and B.106 (RAF Twenthe), both in the Netherlands, finally celebrating VE-Day at B.116 (RAF Varrelbusch) in Germany. After the war he became a physician in the US, where he passed away in 1993.
No need to repeat the reviews of the excellent Tamiya Spit. I just added Master gun barrels, Grey Matter’s universal bomb carrier and the HGW seat harness. The model was airbrushed with XtraColour enamels. I used Maketar’s code letter masks. I tried to airbrush the roundels and fin flash using Maketar masks, but that didn’t work out as well as I had hoped, so I reverted to the decals. Contemporary pictures show several 322 Spitfires having a colored spinner backplate. As 322 Sqd at that time was part of 132 (Norwegian) Wing, whose Norwegian squadrons flew with their national colors on their spinners, my interpretation is that 322 Sqd used the Dutch national color i.e. orange.
© Ronald Dorenbos 2026
This article was published on Sunday, June 14 2026; Last modified on Sunday, June 14 2026