Author: Mikael Forslund
Publisher: Mikael Forslund Produktion
ISBN: 9789197767781
Price: Kr 400
Format: A4R, 208 pages, hardback. Text in English
Mikael Forslund has written some twenty aviation books and his latest book is called about the Spitfire in Sweden was published on the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the aircraft type: March 5, 1936. Release of this book was exactly 80 years later on March 5, 2016.
The book is build up chronologically and begins with an aircraft accident by a British Spitfire aircraft in Funäsdalen during the war. Also, the attempts made by Sweden during the war to buy this aircraft for its Flygvapenet (Swedish Air Force) is described. It was not until after the war that the Spitfire aircraft visited in Sweden for the first time. The book’s emphasis is of course on the purchase of 50 Spitfire Mk. XIX, reconnaissance aircraft to F 11 in Nyköping with designation S 31. The book gives us a look into the service with the Flygvapenet, spices with stories from pilots and technicians about breakdowns and problems. The book includes drawings, charts, and color profiles.
A recurring theme in the book is the killing of the myth, and the explanation of why the S 31 never had white numbers. In one chapter, we get the story of the acquisition and restoration of the S 31 Spitfire at the Flygvapenet Museum in Linköping. The last part of the book is about the Spitfire aircraft that visited Sweden on air displays from the 1980s onwards and of course the story of “Biltema”-Spitfire aircraft. The book contains over 500 images many in color.
