History | 23 August 2017The Great Escapers Share article facebook twitter google pinterest Stalag Luft III was a German prison camp during World War II. It was opened in March 1942, about 100 miles from Berlin. This camp was soon filled with more than 10,000 Allied Air Force officers. These officers did all they could to give the guards, or goons as they called them, a hard time. They also planned one of the biggest escape plots in history. They dug a tunnel out past the camp to the woods. Unfortunately, not all of the great escapers survived the escape. Some officers were recaptured. This list contains the names of the Allied flying officers who broke out of North Compound at Stalag Luft III on the night of March 24–25, 1944. Note that (+) indicates the 50 prisoners who were murdered by the Germans; their ages are also given. Countries of foreign officers who flew for the RAF are in parenthesis. Read more about the great escapers, in The Great Escape. Royal Air Force (Britain) Flight Lieutenant Albert (Shorty) Armstrong Sergeant Per Bergsland, a.k.a. Peter Rockland (Norway) Flight Lieutenant Tony Bethell + Flight Lieutenant Gordon Brettell, 29 Flight Lieutenant Les Brodrick + Flight Lieutenant Johnny Bull, 27 + Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, 33 + Flight Lieutenant Mike Casey, 26 Flight Lieutenant Dick Churchill + Flying Officer Dennis Cochran, 22 + Squadron Leader Ian Cross, 25 Wing Commander Harry (Wings) Day Major Johnny Dodge (Territorial Army) Flight Lieutenant Sydney Dowse Flight Lieutenant Freddie Dvorak (Czechoslovakia) + Flight Lieutenant Brian Evans, 24 Flight Lieutenant Bernard (Pop) Green + Flight Lieutenant Jack Grisman, 29 + Flight Lieutenant Sandy Gunn, 24 + Flight Lieutenant Chaz Hall, 25 + Flight Lieutenant Tony Hayter, 23 + Flight Lieutenant Edgar (Hunk) Humphreys, 29 Pilot Officer Jimmy James + Flight Lieutenant Tony Kiewnarski (Poland), 45 + Squadron Leader Tom Kirby-Green, 26 + Flying Officer Adam Kolanowski (Poland), 30 + Flying Officer Stanislaw (Danny) Krol (Poland), 28 Flight Lieutenant Roy Langlois + Flight Lieutenant Tom Leigh, 29 + Flight Lieutenant Les (Cookie) Long, 29 + Flight Lieutenant René Marcinkus (Lithuania), 33 Flight Lieutenant Johnny Marshall Flight Lieutenant A.T. McDonald + Flight Lieutenant Harold Milford, 29 + Flying Officer Jerzy Mondschein (Poland), 35 Second Lieutenant Jens Muller (Norway) Flight Lieutenant Bob Nelson Flight Lieutenant Keith Ogilvie + Flying Officer Kaz Pawluk (Poland), 37 + Flight Lieutenant Henri Picard (Belgium), 27 Flight Lieutenant Des Plunkett Squadron Leader Lawrence Reavell-Carter Pilot Officer Paul Royle + Flying Officer Bob Stewart, 32 + Flying Officer Johnny Stower (Argentina), 27 + Flying Officer Denys Street, 22 + Flight Lieutenant Cyril Swain, 32 + Flying Officer Peter Tobolski (Poland), 38 Flight Lieutenant Ivo Tonder (Czechoslovakia) + Flight Lieutenant Arnost (Wally) Valenta (Czechoslovakia), 31 Flight Lieutenant Bob van der Stok (Holland) Flight Lieutenant Raymond van Wymeersch (France) + Flight Lieutenant Tim Walenn, 27 + Flight Lieutenant John Williams, 26 Royal Navy (Britain) Lieutenant Des Neely Lieutenant Doug Poynter Royal Canadian Air Force + Flying Officer Hank Birkland, 26 Flight Lieutenant Bill Cameron + Flying Officer Gordon Kidder, 29 + Flight Lieutenant Pat Langford, 24 + Flight Lieutenant George McGill, 25 Flight Lieutenant Alfred (Tommy) Thompson + Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Wernham, 27 + Flight Lieutenant George Wiley, 22 Royal Australian Air Force + Squadron Leader Jimmy Catanach, 22 + Flight Lieutenant Al Hake, 27 + Flight Lieutenant Reg (Rusty) Kierath, 29 + Squadron Leader John (Willy) Williams, 24 Royal New Zealand Air Force + Flying Officer Arnold Christensen, 21 + Flying Officer Porokoru (Johnny) Pohe, 29 Flight Lieutenant Mick Shand Squadron Leader Len Trent Royal Norwegian Air Force + Sergeant Halldor Espelid, 23 + Lieutenant Nils Fugelsang, 25 Royal South African Air Force + Lieutenant Johannes Gouws, 24 + Lieutenant Neville McGarr, 26 + Lieutenant Rupert (John) Stevens, 25 Free French Air Force + Lieutenant Bernard Scheidhauer, 22 Royal Hellenic Air Force (Greece) + Pilot Officer Sotiris (Nick) Skanziklas, 22 Buy from an Online Retailer US: UK: AU: There’s an escape and then there’s The Great Escape! This almost unbelievable story follows a group of English and American soldiers captured by the Nazis in World War II. As prisoners of war in Stalag Luft III, the men improvised to make use of every resource around them and pulled off extreme feats of planning to create a tunnel nearly 350-feet long. The tunnel grew so large they equipped it with trolleys and even lit it with electric light! Finally, on the night of March 24, 1944, nearly 100 men attempted to escape through the tunnel. What was their fate? This is one tale of escape you won’t want to miss! Share article facebook twitter google pinterest If you have any comments on this article please contact us or get in touch via social media.