Research and sources

This website is based on a cumulative family research project using contemporary records, postwar documents, newspaper reporting, local historical studies and family correspondence.

Original documents and published accounts

Official and archival records

The 31 October 1946 reply from the mayor of Doornspijk records Gerrit’s participation in the NBS. Postwar OGS questionnaires and correspondence describe his arrest, imprisonment, execution and burial. The Apeldoorn civil death register, entry 795, records his death on 8 March 1945 at 9 a.m. and was registered on 14 May.

RAF and pilot records

The London Gazette entry published 13 March 1945 links the name David Blair to enlisted service number 1514313 and commissioned officer number 190913. The family research also obtained an MI9 evasion report identified as The National Archives WO 208/3327, report 3058. Differences in retrospective names and some timings remain noted.

Newspapers and local histories

Elburger Courant reporting from May 1945 provides contemporary family and funeral coverage. A 27 February 1970 retrospective gives a detailed account of the landing, helpers and arrests. Willem van Norel identified an 8 May 1971 article concerning Blair’s wife visiting Hendrik Boeve; the original article remains to be transcribed and verified in full.

Recent correspondence

Correspondence with historian Willem van Norel, The National Archives and Stichting Doetinchem Herdenkt in August–October 2026 adds valuable leads about the family, RAF personnel files, De Kruisberg prison records and the possible survival of Gerrit’s Bible. These are identified as correspondence and research leads, not automatically treated as contemporary proof.

Questions still being investigated

• What exactly does the original 1971 newspaper article say about Blair’s wife and her visit to Hendrik Boeve?
• Can original arrest and prison registers identify Gerrit’s cell and transfer dates?
• Can original records confirm Gerrit Kanis’s role in identifying the body?
• Where is Gerrit’s Bible, and which passage was reportedly underlined?
• How should differences among the pilot’s evasion statement and later local accounts be reconciled?
• How do the various cemetery numbering schemes and proposed transfer records relate to Gerrit’s final grave?

The complete research

The full illustrated research report contains the full evidence record, extended citations, historical scans and detailed discussions. The website is designed to stand on its own, and the full report is available by request for readers who want to examine the research in greater depth.

118-page illustrated English research edition, October 2026. Compressed for online access.

Additional historical resources

• Elburg in Oorlogstijd — Gerrit Blaauw
• Elburg in Oorlogstijd — Distribution office raid
• Noord-Veluws Archief — Blair newspaper search
• The National Archives — RAF personnel records

This is a historical research project, not an official archival publication. Images, source descriptions and interpretations are credited where known. Living people’s personal contact information is not published.