Talk:List of Allied airmen from the Great Escape

Scope of table

Urgent clarification is needed of who all this list is supposed to cover. At present it is just the Wooden Horse and Great Escapers, it would be better to move this to e.g. Stalag Luft III. It might be useful to have a list of all British WW2 escapers who made a home run. That would include e.g. Colditz escapers. At the very least it needs renamed. PatGallacher 15:12, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

I put the cleanup flag on because I asked for clarification a few weeks ago, nothing happened. This list can hardly cover all POW escapers in all wars in history, so who does it cover then? PatGallacher 11:43, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Fact or Fiction?

I'm afraid that it's still unclear what exactly this list is. Is the Great Escape referring to the movie? If so, a link to it from inside the article would clear that up. And wouldn't it be better to refer to the actual historic event rather than the movie about it? Do historians talk about the Great Escape or do they talk about the escapes from Stalag Luft III? Would List of Escapees from Stalag Luft III be a better title? --JeffW 19:15, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Another thought I had is if this really is supposed to be a list about how the movie relates to real history, perhaps listing the names of the actors that portrayed each person would be good (the columns for Camp, Unit, and Method are currently identical for each person, so they could be deleted to make room). --JeffW 19:22, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

No, this is the actual historical event, not the movie - so actors are not needed (plus the characters in the movie were largely unrelated or composites), but I'm not sure about the rename, might be a good idea...though there could have been other less-publicised escapes Sherurcij ^{(talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject)} 01:07, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, there was at least one other successful escape from Stalag Luft 3 (The "Wooden Horse" escape in 1943), during which all 3 participants made home runs. So, one cannot, therefore, title the list of the 76 as all of the escapers from Stalag Luft 3. Mhstevens 21:23, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Jack Harrison

A small point maybe, but one that needs addressing. Jack Harrison, who died this month, was stated as being "one of the last survivors of the 'Great Escape'". But why is his name not on this list??? Can anybody clear this up?Barmispain (talk) 09:50, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Could be because Harrison didn't actually escape through the tunnel? He was waiting to go when the tunnel was discovered so didn't make an escape from the camp. I think this list might only cover the 76 (I think) individuals who actually left the camp through the tunnel.--Bcp67 (talk) 08:53, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Swain

I added in Swain, who was missing from the list, and made various other corrections. However, Swain now makes the total here 77, not 76. Needs checking against definitive list(s). And who counts as an escapee? How far from the mouth of the tunnel do they need to have got? According to 'The Longest Tunnel' by Alan Burgess (1990) Squadron Leader Revell-Carter [not in this list, which would make the total here 78 if he was added] was number 75, Ogilvie and Shand were 76 and 77. But as a sentry came close, Shand ran while Langlois and Revell-Carter came out with their hands up [and McBride emerged from the tunnel with his hands up]. 91.111.62.178 (talk) 20:20, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Repetetive table

Why does the table need to list that every man was escaping from the same camp? Why does every man need to be listed on the same date? And why does every man need to be shown using the same method i.e. tunnel? When in fact they all escaped on from the same place, at the same time using the same method "Harry"! It just looks ridiculous and a little desperate. It woul dbe better to expand the notes section and clarify a little bit more about the men. E.g the date they were captured, length of captivity., or their ages.

Links to Required Subscription to Access Content

There are many links to the website: lostaircraft.com. This site requires registration and/or a subscription in order to access it. Rather than place a (subscription required) template tag by every instance this site is referenced, either an alternative source should be located or the references should deleted since the sorces cannot be accessed. N0TABENE (talk) 17:40, 17 September 2015 (UTC)

Duplicate list

Isn't this list also found at Stalag Luft III murders? Shouldn't they be merged somehow? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 04:52, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

Agreed; I've moved the list from here over, but the list still seems useful here too ... so I've added a section transclusion. That means that the list only needs to be maintained in one place, but can be viewed in both places.  Done Klbrain (talk) 20:58, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on List of Allied airmen from the Great Escape. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081121160526/http://www.bbm.org.uk/Shand.htm to http://www.bbm.org.uk/Shand.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 02:09, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

Remaining survivor

This man isn't mentioned on the page and is still alive. Anybody know why? https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7518009/queen-meets-last-surviving-great-escape-survivor-jack-lyon-101-as-she-celebrates-100th-anniversary-of-the-raf-club/ --Jkaharper (talk) 13:48, 15 February 2019 (UTC)

62667 Pilot Officer Jack Lyon RAFVR was Bomb Aimer on 58 Sqdn Whitley P4991 lost 2 Jun 1941 against Düsseldorf. While kept PoW at L3 and actively participating in preparations for the escape, the tunnel was discovered before he could escape. Thus he did not escape and is not listed in the List of Allied airmen from the Great Escape article. Fritzelblitz (talk) 20:44, 15 February 2019 (UTC)

omission of one of the great escapers from the list

Hi, when I read the list of allied airmen from the Great Escape, I was very surprised to see that my father has been omitted from the list. His name is: LANGLOIS Roy B. Rank: Flight Lieutenant Nationality GBR Unit: 12 Squadron RAF. There were 76 escapers and you have only mentioned 75. Please ask if you need futher information (my father was No 60 out of the tunnel).

I would be grateful if you would correct this omission as soon as possible after you have researched this. Many thanks

2A02:C7D:8E7A:2000:650D:C491:E1AB:368E (talk) 14:51, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Omission of one of the great escapers from the list: F/L Roy B. Langlois

Hi, when I read the list of allied airmen from the Great Escape, I was very surprised to see that my father has been omitted from the list. His name is: LANGLOIS Roy B. Rank: Flight Lieutenant Nationality GBR Unit: 12 Squadron RAF. There were 76 escapers and you have only mentioned 75. Please ask if you need futher information (my father was No 60 out of the tunnel).

I would be grateful if you would correct this omission as soon as possible after you have researched this. Many thanks

2A02:C7D:8E7A:2000:650D:C491:E1AB:368E (talk) 15:08, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Corroborated with sources and inserted in table of survivors. I feel a Wikipedia article about F/L Langlois coming on, especially when a son is at hand. Would you contact me please if you would like to go ahead?

Sources: my private research database with records for Wellington W5421 and Wellington Z8862

http://www.cieldegloire.com/insolite_004.php

http://aircrewremembered.com/langlois-roy.html

Chorley, W R. (1998). RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Vol 2 – 1941. Midland Publishing. ISBN: 0904597873.

Fritzelblitz (talk) 16:37, 11 November 2019 (UTC)