THE GREAT ESCAPE (PART 2)
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THE GREAT ESCAPE (PART 2)
From Today's Scotsman on-line:
RAF makes Great Escape, the sequel - Edinburgh, East & Fife - Scotsman.com
Should make interesting viewing!
Foldie
RAF makes Great Escape, the sequel - Edinburgh, East & Fife - Scotsman.com
A GROUP of Scots RAF officers have recreated one of history’s most famous breakouts which was immortalised by film star Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
Flight Lieutenant Mikey Robertson, who grew up in Stirlingshire, was one of six officers selected to travel to Stalag Luft III PoW camp and re-enact the escape of allied prisoners during the Second World War.
The team used records and artefacts for reference and were guided by original prisoners of war in the new escape attempt in the ruins of the German camp.
Flt Lt Robertson, a Tornado navigator at RAF Lossiemouth, and the other officers dug their own escape tunnel using replicas of the original tools and shoring to simulate the conditions that the prisoners of war experienced during the dig.
“It was the most physically demanding challenge of any Force Development activity I have experienced,” he said.
“The temperature in the tunnel as it took shape got up to 37C and ten tons of sand was dug out and removed by hand.
“Progress was slow as bed boards had to be fitted to form the ceiling, walls and floor for the entire length of the tunnel in order to hold it up. Despite this, cave-ins were a regular and extremely frustrating occurrence, all of which added up to send our already high respect for the veterans to new heights.”
As the team made progress they had to stop to fit ventilation pipes under the floorboards and lay the rails for the trolley system.
As they neared completion, some Second World War veterans came to look at their work.
Flt Lt Robertson said: “To have the men who were prisoners in the German camp compliment our hard work and give us encouragement was very humbling and quite poignant.”
The six officers were chosen because of their links to the Great Escape or their interest in these historic events, including Flt Lt Robertson, who has a keen interest since playing a part in a school play which dramatised the Great Escape.
In March 1943, British Spitfire pilot Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, who was imprisoned at the camp with roughly 2,000 other RAF officers, began to plan what would turn out to be the largest mass prisoner escape of the Second World War.
The team he picked created three tunnels, code-named Tom, Dick and Harry.
On the night of the break-out, 76 men escaped before the tunnels were detected but only three made it home.
Of the 73 captured only 23 were re-imprisoned. The remaining 50 were all shot on direct orders from Hitler himself.
Those executed included Sq Ldr Bushell. Last month British archaeologists announced they had discovered a fourth missing tunnel at the infamous German prison camp.
The tunnel, named George, was built by men bitter that they failed to escape in the earlier break-out.
But the escape route was shut down in 1945, when the prisoners of War of Stalag Luft III were led off at gunpoint by their Nazi guards as the advancing Red Army closed in.
The RAF officers’ visit took place over two weeks and was filmed by Wildfire TV.
The resulting documentary, Digging The Great Escape, will be broadcast on Channel 4 later in the year.
Flight Lieutenant Mikey Robertson, who grew up in Stirlingshire, was one of six officers selected to travel to Stalag Luft III PoW camp and re-enact the escape of allied prisoners during the Second World War.
The team used records and artefacts for reference and were guided by original prisoners of war in the new escape attempt in the ruins of the German camp.
Flt Lt Robertson, a Tornado navigator at RAF Lossiemouth, and the other officers dug their own escape tunnel using replicas of the original tools and shoring to simulate the conditions that the prisoners of war experienced during the dig.
“It was the most physically demanding challenge of any Force Development activity I have experienced,” he said.
“The temperature in the tunnel as it took shape got up to 37C and ten tons of sand was dug out and removed by hand.
“Progress was slow as bed boards had to be fitted to form the ceiling, walls and floor for the entire length of the tunnel in order to hold it up. Despite this, cave-ins were a regular and extremely frustrating occurrence, all of which added up to send our already high respect for the veterans to new heights.”
As the team made progress they had to stop to fit ventilation pipes under the floorboards and lay the rails for the trolley system.
As they neared completion, some Second World War veterans came to look at their work.
Flt Lt Robertson said: “To have the men who were prisoners in the German camp compliment our hard work and give us encouragement was very humbling and quite poignant.”
The six officers were chosen because of their links to the Great Escape or their interest in these historic events, including Flt Lt Robertson, who has a keen interest since playing a part in a school play which dramatised the Great Escape.
In March 1943, British Spitfire pilot Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, who was imprisoned at the camp with roughly 2,000 other RAF officers, began to plan what would turn out to be the largest mass prisoner escape of the Second World War.
The team he picked created three tunnels, code-named Tom, Dick and Harry.
On the night of the break-out, 76 men escaped before the tunnels were detected but only three made it home.
Of the 73 captured only 23 were re-imprisoned. The remaining 50 were all shot on direct orders from Hitler himself.
Those executed included Sq Ldr Bushell. Last month British archaeologists announced they had discovered a fourth missing tunnel at the infamous German prison camp.
The tunnel, named George, was built by men bitter that they failed to escape in the earlier break-out.
But the escape route was shut down in 1945, when the prisoners of War of Stalag Luft III were led off at gunpoint by their Nazi guards as the advancing Red Army closed in.
The RAF officers’ visit took place over two weeks and was filmed by Wildfire TV.
The resulting documentary, Digging The Great Escape, will be broadcast on Channel 4 later in the year.
Foldie
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"Force Development activity"? WTF?
I hope that a team of consultants was employed to coin this gem.
I trust that a Risk Assessment was carried out on this project?
My memories of "Force Development" activities consist of Biblical quantities of beer, Squadron songs & the Dance of the Flaming A#$%holes.
Nostalgia is not what it used to be...........
HB
I hope that a team of consultants was employed to coin this gem.
I trust that a Risk Assessment was carried out on this project?
My memories of "Force Development" activities consist of Biblical quantities of beer, Squadron songs & the Dance of the Flaming A#$%holes.
Nostalgia is not what it used to be...........
HB
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Those that can draw cartoons should have a field day with this.
One of those signs at the entrance to the tunnel telling participants what safety gear to wear, contact numbers and so on. Hard hats, steel toe caps and high vis jackets to be worn at all times, etc. etc..
One of those signs at the entrance to the tunnel telling participants what safety gear to wear, contact numbers and so on. Hard hats, steel toe caps and high vis jackets to be worn at all times, etc. etc..
Didn't the 100Sqn Canberra mates once dig a tunnel out of Machrihanish to make it to a nearby pub during some JMC borex or whatever?
I understand it was only discovered when some farmer's tractor caused a cave in and fell into it?
I understand it was only discovered when some farmer's tractor caused a cave in and fell into it?
If a navigator digs an escape tunnel, does it look like an underground version of one of those water chutes in an amusement park??
Last edited by ex-fast-jets; 30th Oct 2011 at 21:05.
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The last of the Colditz Club
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Visited Colditz Castle last month - a must do visit, let me tell you! Apart from a lick of paint and an ongoing and expensive refurbishment programme it is as it was when the Americans arrived in 1945. The tunnels are still there and the Airey Neave 'hole in the ceiling' behind the theatre is as he left it when he escaped from Colditz. Also the slit in the wall that Pat Reid escaped through from the storage cellar (he and his Dutch colleague had to strip naked and go out backwards to effect the escape) is as narrow as you might imagine it to be - it was also above head height!
The best story from the guided tour was, however, that during the return visit of a British 'inmate' in the late '90s, as he approached a door in the German guards' courtyard, he pulled the key that he had manufactured during his incarceration, inserted it in the lock, turned it and unlocked the door!!!!
Brilliant
Foldie
The best story from the guided tour was, however, that during the return visit of a British 'inmate' in the late '90s, as he approached a door in the German guards' courtyard, he pulled the key that he had manufactured during his incarceration, inserted it in the lock, turned it and unlocked the door!!!!
Brilliant
Foldie
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The best story from the guided tour was, however, that during the return visit of a British 'inmate' in the late '90s, as he approached a door in the German guards' courtyard, he pulled the key that he had manufactured during his incarceration, inserted it in the lock, turned it and unlocked the door!!!!
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I have just read Oliver Philpot's account of his heart-stopping 1943 tunnel escape from Stalag Luft III - though gotta say I felt for the guys who vaulted over that wooden horse hour after hour after hour after hour while the tunnel was dug! The book is "Stolen Journey" and I highly recommend it. I couldn't put it down.
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Last year I took a trip on my motorcycle around the Schwarzwald region of Germany. Having thrashed the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse (better than the Nürburgring) to death, I cruised the German/Swiss frontier.
I was overwhelmed by an irrational desire to jump my bike over any number of barbed-wire fences. Regrettably, the presence of the girly on the pillion inhibited this; for a brief moment in time though, I was Steve McQueen.................
HB
I was overwhelmed by an irrational desire to jump my bike over any number of barbed-wire fences. Regrettably, the presence of the girly on the pillion inhibited this; for a brief moment in time though, I was Steve McQueen.................
HB
Last edited by Halton Brat; 31st Oct 2011 at 12:41. Reason: Das German spelling.....
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Just back (and now recovered) from the 'Farewell Navigator Branch' Dinner at Cranwell on Saturday! The guest of honour was 97-year old Sqn Ldr Alfie Fripp who, as a young sergeant navigator, spent 6 years in Stalag Luft III having been shot down on his second mission.
Foldie
Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp and Flight Lieutenant Jack Lyon were Prisoners of war in the notorious Stalag Luft III during WW2 at the time of the real life Great Escape when 76 prisoners achieved their mass breakout. Alfie Fripp was a logistics officer in charge of Red Cross parcels which were key to equipping the escapers and Jack Lyon was at number 88 of 220 position in the tunnel ready to escape when the German “Goons” discovered the mass breakout attempt on the night of March 24/25th 1944.
Alfie and Jack worked as consultants on the 1963 John Sturges film The Great Escape and were invited to the premier in Leicester Square. After they had seen the film, they and many of their ex POW comrades swore never to watch it again, they said it was a travesty of their real life experiences. They particularly objected to the fictional Steve McQueen character of Virgil Hilts the “Cooler King” and the way the film handled the deaths of 50 of the escapees who were murdered on Hitler's orders.
Alfie and Jack worked as consultants on the 1963 John Sturges film The Great Escape and were invited to the premier in Leicester Square. After they had seen the film, they and many of their ex POW comrades swore never to watch it again, they said it was a travesty of their real life experiences. They particularly objected to the fictional Steve McQueen character of Virgil Hilts the “Cooler King” and the way the film handled the deaths of 50 of the escapees who were murdered on Hitler's orders.
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100 Sqn on the Mull
"Didn't the 100Sqn Canberra mates once dig a tunnel out of Machrihanish to make it to a nearby pub during some JMC borex or whatever?"
It was a very long borex indeed, having been successfully entangled with the annual Rapier darts team meet in the Outer Isles. This led to mini det of Canberras being parked up for a couple of months with weekly crew rotations.
OC Det used to send his weekly signal advising 'home' of sorties, hours etc. Soon the signal was being rounded out with cryptic comments about the progress of the tunnels Tom, Dick & Harry. Much amusement and mirth was occasioned with Sqn Boss who took copies with him to Stn Execs to read choice passages out. The Staish was that impressed that he took copies with him to the next Group meeting to enlighten the assembled many. Here matters could have ended, however...........
"I understand it was only discovered when some farmer's tractor caused a cave in and fell into it?"
A week after the last of the det had vanished a contractor was engaged in ditch clearance round the hut that the sqn had been using. Cue the sight of the JCB vanishing from view and a somewhat bloodied contractor being whisked off to the Med Centre.
It was a very long borex indeed, having been successfully entangled with the annual Rapier darts team meet in the Outer Isles. This led to mini det of Canberras being parked up for a couple of months with weekly crew rotations.
OC Det used to send his weekly signal advising 'home' of sorties, hours etc. Soon the signal was being rounded out with cryptic comments about the progress of the tunnels Tom, Dick & Harry. Much amusement and mirth was occasioned with Sqn Boss who took copies with him to Stn Execs to read choice passages out. The Staish was that impressed that he took copies with him to the next Group meeting to enlighten the assembled many. Here matters could have ended, however...........
"I understand it was only discovered when some farmer's tractor caused a cave in and fell into it?"
A week after the last of the det had vanished a contractor was engaged in ditch clearance round the hut that the sqn had been using. Cue the sight of the JCB vanishing from view and a somewhat bloodied contractor being whisked off to the Med Centre.
