Great Escape Veteran lecture - food for thought.
I know this thread would probably be more "at home" in the history and nostalgia forum but I put it here for one reason which I hope will become clear.
At work, we have just had a lecture from a chap who was at Stalag Luft III during the Great Escape. He was an Air Gunner on Hampdens and was shot down on his second sortie. He had only had two weeks training and was only really there as a stand in before going to Canada to train properly.
His story of the planning, preparing and actual escape from Sagan was incredibly powerful, moving and amazing just what could be achieved by determination. Although his number was 215 and he did not actually escape, it was as moving as the Great Escape Veteran Jimmy James who I heard a few years back who did actually escape through "Harry". He was 87 and still spoke as though it was yesterday and with much emotion as he spoke of his friends who were executed.
I have posted this here as it really made me think about PPL flying. We fly for the love of it and the thrill as a hobby, we fly with all the CAA regulations they can throw at us and yet these guys flew night after night, against flack and enemy fighters with very little training and none of the gizmos we have.
It really is awesome and although I have always very much admired WW2 aviators, i admire them even more since I have been learning to fly, especially as I fly over the old Bomber County of Lincolnshire. I wonder how I would have reacted in similar circumstances...i realise how much you have to learn and how little time they had to get to grips with their aircraft before facing the enemy or going miles over enemy occupied Europe at night...where we have the luxury of taking as long as is needed to learn, no enemy fighters and no hostile territory awaiting our arrival if things go wrong...
I hope that the PPrune community will take this post it in the spirit that it is meant, I don't mean to sound pompous or anything, i just wanted to share my genuine thoughts as a fledgling pilot as I was certainly very moved by Mr Clark's lecture.