Jan Flinterman

Jan Flinterman

Jan Flinterman was born in October 1919 in Gravenhage, Holland. By the start of the war, he was an officer in the Dutch Air Force and when he reached England he was taken into the RAF flying Spitfires. Jan flew with 126 Squadron in Malta and then the all Dutch 322 squadron in the summer of 1943.

In May 1944, he moved to 222 Squadron as a Flight Lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after a dogfight over Paris. By the end of the war he had also been awarded Holland's Order of Orange-Nassau and the Vliegerkruis. After the war he flew the new Gloucester Meteor jet and transferred from the RAF to become a major in the Royal Dutch Air Force, becoming the commanding officer of the country's Fighter Pilot School and setting a number of Dutch national speed records.

A curious race at Zandvoort, 10th June 1951. Jan Flinterman (ex-Moss Cooper Mk II) beats Lex Beels (Beels) for second place by 2 cm.

Unseen is that both had been waiting for Otto Dillenius, in the only car to survive, to take the chequered flag before beginning a pushing race for the line!

 

Jan raced once in 1950, in a  Kieft, then a full season in a Cooper Mk II

Zandvoort, Holland  23rd July 1950 Grand Prix, 7th (Kieft)

Zandvoort, Holland 10th June 1951, 2nd

Jönköping 17th June 1951, DNF

Zandvoort, Holland 21st July 1951 Grand Prix, 9th

Brands Hatch 6th August 1951 Daily Telegraph Trophy, DNF

In 1952 Jan became the first Dutchman to race in the Formula 1 World Championship when he competed in the Dutch GP at the wheel of a Maserati rented from Escuderia Bandeirantes. After his own car broke down he took over Chico Landi's similar machine and finished ninth. It was his only Grand Prix race after which he went back to aviation. By the 1960s he had become a member of the board of Martin's Air Charter, a company which became Martinair Holland in 1968.

Jan Flinterman died in Leiden in Holland in 1992 at the age of 73.

Please get in touch if you can tell us any more about his career.