Private Papers of Flight Lieutenant O L S Philpot MC DFC

Exceptional collection of material relating to his successful escape through the 'Wooden Horse' tunnel from the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III (Sagan) in October 1943, where he was imprisoned (from April 1942) after capture off the Norwegian coast when he was shot down while serving as a pilot with No 42 Squadron, Coastal Command (11 December 1941), comprising: three ms letters (7pp, December 1941, January and December 1942) to his aunt, the first two from an Oslo hospital where he was initially treated for frostbite before being taken to Stalag Luft I (Barth), with a small photograph of him in uniform, ms letter (4pp) to his aunt from his former school housemaster expressing his joy at hearing from Philpot (January 1942); two tissue maps made in Sagan in preparation for his escape; five 'story boards' displaying documents used during his escape to Sweden via Danzig disguised as a Norwegian businessman, including a jelly map and a list of Norwegian phrases, as well as photographs of him and his fellow escapers, Eric Williams & Richard (Michael) Codner, and loose sheets (5pp) with tickets, receipts and other printed ephemera from Stockholm, where he arrived in November 1943; first ms draft for his autobiography 'Stolen Journey' (64pp, incomplete, March 1944); ms letter (1p) to his wife and postcard to him from two friends and fellow prisoners about life at Sagan (March 1944); 23 photographs including aerial shots of the camp, stills from the film 'The Wooden Horse' and his escape aids (maps, compass and forged ID documents), as well as one of a German ship which he attacked in Summer 1941; two maps, four diagrams and five lantern slides which he used during his subsequent talks on the subject; together with the flying log book (31pp, November 1941 - November 1942) belonging to his dog, Sammy, who had accompanied him on non-operational flights; and set of Player's cigarette cards (circa 90) which he used to identify ships and aircraft while flying. The collection also includes two scrapbooks (46pp) of newspaper cuttings relating to Codner's murder by Communist guerrillas during the Emergency in Malaya, 1952.

Cataloguer KM

Catalogue date 2005-06-20