Stalag Luft III Williams, the book "Stolen Journey" by Philpot and the 1950 film "The Wooden Horse". There had been escape attempts (one of which inspired the film "The Wooden Horse") and many tunnels had been started and discovered before completion. In March 1943, Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Roger Bushell conceived a plan for a mass escape from the North Compound, which took place on the night of 24/25 March 1944. He was being held with the other British and Commonwealth airmen and he was in command of the Escape Committee that managed all escape opportunities from the north compound. Falling back
Aircraft in fiction one engine and one wheel. The film was distributed in the U.S. under the title "Decision Against Time". The Bristol Freighter that starred in the film, G-AIFV, was damaged in a crash during filming. After repairs it returned to service with Silver City Airways until it was retired and scrapped in 1962. In the 1963 epic film "The Great Escape", the prisoners of war played by James Garner and Donald Pleasence steal a "Luftwaffe" Bücker Bü 181, a plot invention for the movie. In the actual escape from Stalag Luft III, no aircraft were involved. Pleasence, an aircraft wireless operator