Description
“My altimeter read 31,000 feet and I was flying just 500 feet underneath the critical condensation level. My Spitfire was leaving o give-away trail of white vapor, but an enemy fighter above me would necessarily leave a long plume of condenation behind it, visible for miles. Nothing below me would have the speed to catch me, so I felt safe.”
So began what should have been a routine reconnaissance flight for RAF pilot Tommy Calnan over Brest to photograph the results of a heavy bomber attack on two German battleships, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, docked in the harbor. But he was nailed by flak and badly burned before he was able to bail out. On landing, more dead than alive, he was captured and sent under heavy guard to a hospital. Once his sight had been restored and his wounds almost healed he was sent to the first of several German prison camps he was to be held in until the final days of World War II. He set about devising a means of escape at once.
This fantastic but true account shows what one ingenious and courageous man was capable of accomplishing in the face of tremendous odds.
