Escaped German Prisoners-of-War Stole A Plane

[Music] a big spotlight has been shown onto allied escape attempts from german prisoner of war camps resulting in a huge number of books and films over the past 70 years including classics like the colditz story stalag 17 and of course the great escape they were united in portraying the prisoners as determined to get back in the war and though in reality only a small minority of pows actually attempted to escape these men formed a hardcore of patriotic resistors to the germans who used every ingenious trick they could think of to make it home or to a neutral nation but what about german pows hundreds of thousands ended up in camps in britain canada and the united states did they not try and escape too well in point of fact many germans felt the same way allied pows felt they yearned to be free to see their families again and to rejoin the war and like allied prisoners they launch many daring and ingenious escape attempts that are largely forgotten today and none was more ingenious and bold than that hatched by two luftwaffe pilots held captive in england in 1941. it ranks as one of the most extraordinary escape attempts of world war ii for german pows sent to camps in britain they face one really big problem if they manage to escape the place is an island and to reach german-occupied europe would entail a sea crossing as all ports and harbours were carefully guarded all ships carefully checked and all beaches patrolled and sometimes mined because of anti-invasion precautions reaching the coast and finding a boat was a very difficult proposition another factor is britain's size it's a relatively small and well-populated country meaning that there isn't much wilderness to hide in any escape would entail interaction with locals always a dangerous proposition for an skp but there was one aspect of life in wartime britain that could be exploited by those bold enough to try tens of thousands of foreign service men and women had escaped to britain as the germans conquered europe and they had formed national contingents in support of their respective exile governments there were poles danes dutch norwegians french belgian czechoslovaks and many others the raf had many foreign squadrons for example during the battle of britain eighteen percent of all german aircraft shot down were destroyed by polish pilots in the [Music] raf pretending to be foreign servicemen in britain offered one way escaped german pows could remain at large but it would still require convincing uniforms and identification papers the battle of britain had led to hundreds of german airmen being shot down and taken prisoner in britain among them two young officers who were determined to escape captivity leutenant heinz schnabel was an ace having down six enemy aircraft in combat three bristol blenheims and three spitfires flying the messerschmitt bf-109e but his luck had run out on the 5th of september 1940 when he was escorting a force of heinkel 111 and dornier 17 bombers on a raid on southern england intercepted by a spitfire schnabel's 109 was damaged and he made a forced landing in a field near oldington in kent injured in the crash once recovered schnabel was interrogated at the london cage a special center used to pump german airmen for information and eventually sent to camp number one an officer's camp at griesdale hall in cumbria in a remote part of northern england a close neighbor being children's author beatrix potter at griezdale schnabel became friendly with bomber pilot oberloidnand hari vapla who had been captured on the 12th of september 1940 flying a heinkel 111 in a raid on ellesmere port near liverpool his aircraft had been down by a barrage balloon cable and vapla had bailed out breaking his arm and being knocked unconscious when he landed in a street in newport in spring 1941 schnabul and vapla were transferred to a new camp at the converted chapwell's hotel 25 miles east of greisdale the former luxury hotel now had armed sentries and a barbed wire fence and searchlights the pows worked in the camp and were often taken out for exercise enabling covert reconnaissance of the surrounding area the germans discovered that the mainline railway between london and glasgow and scotland ran close to the camp and at a place called shap bank the steep gradient caused trains to slow to a walking pace the two pilots also noted raf aircraft regularly overflying the camp the types were miles magisters and tiger moths simple to fly training aircraft after much intelligence gathering the prisoners located the aircraft's base raf kingstown north of the city of carlisle you can see where i'm going with this tale a handy rail line running close to an raf base full of basic trainers all the germans needed to do was dream up plausible disguisers and work out how to escape from the camp the problem of britain being an island would be overcome schnabel and vapla could fly to freedom if they could steal a plane at king's town many months of planning went into the escape schnabel and vapla decided to pose as dutch airmen in the raf and would wear faked up uniforms over their luftwaffe uniforms they wore their german uniforms so that they could not be accused of being spies or saboteurs if caught during the escape the camp forger produced two sets of id documents schnabel became pilot officer george david and vapla flight lieutenant harry graven of the raf both germans could speak some english enough to come across convincingly as dutch officers they launched their escape on the 24th of november 1941. they hid in a specially hollowed-out log pile in the camps grounds that the prisoners had prepared the other prisoners managed to conceal their missing comrades during roll calls and room checks once it was dark schnabel and vaplet emerged from their hiding place and crept along an irrigation ditch to the perimeter fence thick fog masked the view from the guard towers the germans got through the fence using homemade tools they walked to the railway line at shap bank and waited until the goods train slowed down as it negotiated the steep incline and they climbed aboard for a free ride to carlisle they wasted some time in a local cinema and then casually joined groups of raf personnel who were walking back the two miles to kingstown their fake uniforms and passers got them through the main gate and onto the raf base hiding up behind the hangar they waited for daybreak during the morning the two germans watched as multiple training aircraft departed on instructional flights later they spotted a pair of magisters on the far side of the airfield well away from all the buildings walking up to one of the aircraft vapla told the civilian apprentice who was working on it that he and the other dutch officer were to carry out a taxiing test the apprentice accepted the request and started the magister up and removed the chocks from beneath the wheels the two germans then motored to the end of the runway and to the amazement of the apprentice promptly took [Music] off the apprentice informed his superior that two crazy poles had disobeyed orders and flown off without parachutes the news reached the station commander who checked the story and informed group headquarters that two unknown pilots had stolen an aircraft the miles magister was a bit of a come down for the experienced german pilots its cruising speed was 123 miles per hour with a maximum range on full tanks of 380 miles both germans were not equipped for flying particularly in november neither had parachutes flying helmets goggles or flight suits just their fake dutch great coats over their luftwaffe uniforms as it was winter the cold was extreme so where were they headed from their location at carlisle the closest neutral territory was the republic of ireland a short 150 mile hop across the irish sea but schnabel and vapla had rejected southern ireland as they would be in turn for the duration merely swapping one prison camp for another the other alternative was far more hazardous flying to the german occupied netherlands across the north sea a distance of some 365 miles they would probably have to land somewhere else in england to obtain sufficient fuel for the journey using a basic map that vapla had obtained whilst a pow and flying at two thousand feet the two germans passed the city of leeds they then flew across the wash between lincolnshire and norfolk and headed out to sea hoping the fuel would be sufficient however it took vapla some time to work out how to operate the fuel cox to get readings on the wing tanks and the results were indeed alarming both tanks were nearly empty if they continued they would run out of fuel and have to ditch in the freezing sea having no life jackets or a rubber dinghy they would die vapla turned around and headed back towards the norfolk coast running practically on fumes vaplan managed to set the magister down in a field at scrappy a village five miles north of the coastal town of great yarmouth locals arrived to help them the dutch pilot cover story serving the germans well a policeman arrived and vapla explained that they had become lost flying to croydon airport and run out of fuel he checked their fake id papers and accepted their story the germans needed fuel the police sergeant took the germans to kaester police station at the station the germans were told that the nearest raf base was at horshamson faith now norwich international airport 15 miles away vaplas spoke on the telephone to the duty officer at horshamson faith regarding fuel the magister couldn't be refueled until the following morning a truck was sent to collect the germans and take them to the temporary quarters at the office's mess at raf horshamson faith they were given a room and the germans decided to have baths but their luck finally ran out a message was given to an administrative officer that a magister had been stolen from raf kingstown by two escaped luftwaffe officers he and the station commander armed themselves with service revolvers and marched into the germans room placing them under arrest the british admired the german's pluck and gave them a send-off dinner in the officer's mess the station commander then handed them over to raf police with the parting words i'm sorry gentlemen you deserve better luck schnabel and vapla received 28 days solitary confinement for their outrageous stunt and in spring 1942 they were sent to camps in canada with lots of other german pows both men never escaped again and survived the war thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 629,159

Keywords: Mark Felton, Wappler Schnabel, Beatrix Potter, Battle of Britain

Id: QtngxfLQ9o0

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021