Description
Object description
British officer served as pilot flying Spitfires on photographic reconnaissance missions with 42 Sqdn, RAF, 1940; shot down over Brest, 1940; POW in Germany, 1942-1945 including participation in Great Escape, 3/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in London and Malaysia, 1918-1939: family background; education and OTC training at Hurstpoint School; period as district officer with Malayan Civil Service. Period training with Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Shoreham-on-Sea, 1937-1939: learning to fly in Tiger Moth including opinion of Tiger Moth, dual control flying, first solo flight, cross country flights and formation flying; opinion of Hawker Hart. Period with 42 Sqdn and No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, 1939-1940: opinions of Fairey Battle, de Haviland Fury and Spitfire.
REEL 2 Continues: detachment to HMS Furious operating off Norway, 1940; selection procedure and status if No 1, PRU; memories of Squadron Leader Geoffrey Tuttle; relationship with officers and nature of officers' mess; nature of photographic reconnaissance missions including use of cameras, meteorological reports, processing and examination of photos; role of photographic interpretation officers; evading German fighters; photographic targets; mission over neutral Spain and photographs of Gibraltar taken to illustrate long range capability; story of being wounded in leg and shot down on mission over Brest, France, 20/8/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: story of being wounded in leg and shot down on mission over Brest, France, 20/8/1941, including decision to bail out by parachute, landing in sea, swimming ashore, plans to contact French resistance and circumstances of capture by German soldiers. Various aspects of period as POW at Hospital Dulag Luft, Oberusal and Oflag VIII B, Warburg, Germany, ca 1940-1943: initial treatment; discovery of leg wound; hospital treatment; sending message to parents; operation on leg at Hospital Dulag Luft, Oberusal; reception from Senior British Officer; hut accommodation; walking perimeter circuits; food.
REEL 4 Continues: first impressions of Oflag VIII B; reception form SBO; attitude to escape; opinion of Flight Lieutenant Danny Krol; story of escaping over wire, 12/1941, including timing German guard's movements, German money, buying ticket, train journey to Roermond and recapture on Dutch border. Recollections of period at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, 1942-1944: opinion of various officers including Bill Lewis, Group Captain Harry Day, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell and Group Captain H M Massey; nature of huts; recreations and sport.
REEL 5 Continues; Red Cross parcels; KLIM tins; developing and exploiting relationship with Unteroffizer Nicky Hesse; question of intelligence supplied to Germans; relationship with German guards; role of German 'ferrets'; attitudes to escape; role of escape committee; stories of various escape attempts and favoured policy of using trains; background to plan for 'Great Escape'; concealment of Harry tunnel entrance underneath hut stove; role as digger including clothes worn, use of knife, soil type, curved roof and question of props; removal, bagging and disposal of soil by 'penguins'.
REEL 6 Continues: tunnel trolley and ventilation systems; question of roof falls; question of claustrophobia; digging shift system; daily progress; showers; organisation of lookout 'stooges'; question of role of Tom and Dick tunnels; role of forgery team including Flight Lieutenants Tim Walenn and Alex Cassie; role of tailoring department; concealed wireless; criteria for planned order of escape; question of learning German.
REEL 7 Continues: criteria for planned order of escape; opinion of Flight Lieutenants Johnny Marshall and Johnny Bull; failed attempt to persuade Squadron Leader Roger Bushell not to risk escape; nickname 'Dynamo'; escape clothes and equipment; selection of date of escape. Account of Great Escape, 24/3/1944: collecting in hut; role pulling trolley; breaking through exit and falling short of trees cover; question of closing tunnel; arrangements to distract sentry from within camp; method of leaving tunnel exit and role watching sentry; confusion in tunnel and delayed start; leaving tunnel exit with Flight Lieutenant Danny Krol; background to decision to walk to Poland after visit to Sagan railway station; question of German discovery of tunnel; question of number escaped; background to policy of walking by day and resting by night.
REEL 8 Continues: question of maintaining personal appearance; food; close escape from German civilians; reaching Polish border near Oels; story of recapture in barn; interrogations and identification; move to Oels; separation from Flight Lieutenant Danny Krol; question of executions and reason he was excluded. Recollections of period at Sachenhausen Concentration Camp, 4/1944-4/1945: reception; separate enclosure; opinion of Flight Lieutenant Jimmy James; hut accommodation; reactions to news of 'Great Escape' executions; search for microphones; digging tunnel and concealing soil under hut; opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill.
REEL 9 Continues: progress of tunnel; story of escape and subsequent recapture, 23/9/1944; period in cell block; presence of VIP prisoners; relationship with German guards; background to rejection of proposal to escape and take peace message back to GB; movements prior to liberation, 4/1945. Flight back to GB and demobilisation, 1945. Post-war career: rejection of regular RAF commission; period with Colonial Service, Malaya; effects of war service; opinion of 'Great Escape' film.
