Lt Gen Baron Mike Donnet
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Lt Gen Baron Mike Donnet
Lt Gen Baron Mike Donnet, the distinguished airman who has died aged 96, made a dramatic escape from his native Belgium in 1941 then served in the RAF throughout the war as a fighter pilot. He later held senior appointments in the Belgian Air Force and in Nato.
Donnet and a friend, Leon Divoy, were determined to carry on the fight and made plans to escape to Britain. They and two other patriots discovered an old Stampe SV-4b biplane (similar to a Tiger Moth) in a hangar in the grounds of a heavily guarded German depot. It was intact but needed considerable attention to make it airworthy.
For three months, the four men cycled 20 miles at night to the hangar, replacing missing parts and manufacturing others before refitting them to the aircraft under the noses of the Germans. They also managed to acquire enough fuel for the aircraft by purchasing it on the black market from a Luftwaffe mechanic.
After a couple of false starts (due to the unsuspecting Germans changing the locks to the hangar and the engine failing to start) Donnet and Divoy crept into the hangar on the night of July 4/5 1941 in their Belgian Air Force uniforms, wheeled out the aircraft, started the engine and took off for England.
With virtually no aircraft instruments, they climbed to 10,000ft and crossed the English Channel, intending to land in Kent. Steering by the Pole Star they eventually crossed the English coast, and, with their meagre supply of fuel running out, landed in a field to discover that they were near Clacton in Essex.
Among those who met them at the local police station was the immigration officer from Harwich. Like Donnet, the vintage aircraft was pressed into RAF service for the duration of the war .
Donnet and a friend, Leon Divoy, were determined to carry on the fight and made plans to escape to Britain. They and two other patriots discovered an old Stampe SV-4b biplane (similar to a Tiger Moth) in a hangar in the grounds of a heavily guarded German depot. It was intact but needed considerable attention to make it airworthy.
For three months, the four men cycled 20 miles at night to the hangar, replacing missing parts and manufacturing others before refitting them to the aircraft under the noses of the Germans. They also managed to acquire enough fuel for the aircraft by purchasing it on the black market from a Luftwaffe mechanic.
After a couple of false starts (due to the unsuspecting Germans changing the locks to the hangar and the engine failing to start) Donnet and Divoy crept into the hangar on the night of July 4/5 1941 in their Belgian Air Force uniforms, wheeled out the aircraft, started the engine and took off for England.
With virtually no aircraft instruments, they climbed to 10,000ft and crossed the English Channel, intending to land in Kent. Steering by the Pole Star they eventually crossed the English coast, and, with their meagre supply of fuel running out, landed in a field to discover that they were near Clacton in Essex.
Among those who met them at the local police station was the immigration officer from Harwich. Like Donnet, the vintage aircraft was pressed into RAF service for the duration of the war .
