Oliver Philpot

Oliver Lawrence Spurling Philpot (6 March 1913 – 29 April 1993) was a Canadian-born Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and subsequently a businessman, best known for being one of the three men to successfully escape from Stalag Luft III in the escape known as The Wooden Horse.

After the war, Philpot resumed his career in management in the food industry.

He wrote the book Stolen Journey, in which he recounts daily life as a prisoner in various POW camps, ending with his escape via the Wooden Horse and his return to England.

Philpot was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of an expatriate London engineer.

Holding both British and Canadian citizenships he returned to England as a child.

He was educated, first at Aymestrey School near Worcester, then at Radley College between 1927 and 1932 and then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford University.

During his time at Oxford, he joined the Oxford University Air Squadron and learned to fly.

Upon graduating in 1934, he joined Unilever as a management trainee and in 1936 was appointed assistant commercial secretary in Unilever's home margarine executive.

This proved to be useful in his wartime escape as the post required him to travel extensively in Germany and to learn to speak German.

Service in the University Air Squadron automatically made Philpot a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) on its formation in 1936.

With the approach of the war, Philpot was recalled for service in August 1939 and posted as a pilot officer on probation to 42 Squadron, an 18 Group Coastal Command unit then operating Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers.

The squadron re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufort in 1940 and took part in the Norwegian Campaign.

Philpot was confirmed in his rank on 15 January 1941 and later in the same year was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

Promotion to Flying Officer soon followed and it was Flying Officer Philpot who took off in Beaufort O - Orange for an attack on a German convoy off Norway on 11 December 1941.

During the mission, the aircraft was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire and ditched in the North Sea.

Philpot and the other three crew evacuated the plane and took to the dinghy.

After two days in the dinghy, they were picked up by a German naval vessel.

Philpot was suffering from the effects of the two days in the dinghy and was at first sent to a German military hospital in Oslo.

After several weeks, he was moved to Dulag Luft I near Frankfurt arriving in January 1942.

Only a month later he was transferred to Oflag IX-A/H at Spangenberg.

This was a brief stay and in April 1942 the RAF prisoners at Spangenberg were all sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan.

Escape was always a thought, having first been considered while in the hospital immediately after capture, and at Sagan Philpot was involved in more than one escape attempt.

In August, Philpot was promoted to flight lieutenant.

In September 1942, Philpot was among a number of prisoners transferred to Oflag XXI-B at Szubin (In his book Philpot uses the German spelling: Schubin) in Poland, the winter of 1942–43 being spent here before the camp closed and all prisoners returned to Stalag Luft III.

On his return to Sagan, Philpot was returned to the east compound, where he had previously been held; in the interim period, most of his friends had been moved to the north compound.

Escape schemes were not as common as they had been in 1942, but Philpot hit upon the idea of inventing an escape character and papers etc. before involvement with any escape, rather than the opposite way round.

After some thought, he decided that his character would be a Norwegian margarine salesman called Jon Jörgensen.

The profession was based on Philpot's own civilian career and the nationality was common enough to be encountered in Germany, but with a reduced likelihood of meeting someone who spoke Norwegian, as Philpot did not speak any Norwegian.

With the assistance of a Norwegian POW the character was fleshed out even to the extent of making him a Quisling.

The Wooden Horse was the idea of Lieutenant Michael Codner RA and Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams.

They approached Philpot in June 1943 to 'register' their escape scheme with the escape committee, Philpot being the escape co-ordinator for the hut in which the three of them lived.

With the scheme approved, Codner and Williams set to work.

A vaulting horse was constructed from stolen timber, plywood with cigarette package wrappings used for the top.

After a period of legitimate use, Codner and Williams started to dig a tunnel from inside the horse.

One man was carried out in the horse and the tunnel started by digging a shaft, lined with plywood panels from Red Cross parcel boxes.

After each session, care was taken to secure the top of the shaft and to replace the surface sand on top.

The digger and the sand excavated were carried back into a hut and the sand disposed of.

Initially Philpot assisted in disposing of the sand, but later on Codner and Williams asked him to join in the digging and become one of the escapers.

Digging was a cramped job and sand was dragged back to the bottom of the shaft by the digger and then placed into bags for lifting and disposal.

Only 12 bags per session were lifted.