Allegiance United Kingdom Battles and wars World War II Years of service 1936 – 1959 Rank Wing commander | Battles/wars World War II Service/branch Royal Air Force Name Thomas Calnan | |
Born 16 December 1915 (age 108) ( 1915-12-16 ) | ||
Thomas Daniel Calnan (born 16 December 1915) is an English pilot and prisoner-of-war of World War II, who wrote a memoir of his time in German captivity entitled Free As A Running Fox.
Calnan was commissioned in the RAF on 19 December 1936.
Calnan was shot down while flying a Spitfire on a photo-reconnaissance mission over France in December 1941. He gives some brief background about himself and his flying career with the RAF's No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, but devotes most of the book to his escape attempts while a prisoner of the Germans. He was incarcerated at Stalag Luft III during the period of the "Great Escape."
He was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 January 1949, and retired on 14 February 1959.
References
Thomas D. Calnan Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA