• Another sad death notice came from New Zealand on December 22th. Mick Shand, Spitfire pilot and one of the surviving participants of the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III, died at his home farm in Wairarapa, New Zealand at the age of 92.
  
  Mick debuted during the Battle of Britain with Alan Deere's No. 54 Squadron at Hornchurch, but was shot down and wounded during his second mission. He returned to action in 1941 with No. 485 Squadron, completing over 60 missions over the continent. He was shot down again on November 28, 1942 over the island of Noord-Beveland, during a rhubarb over the Oosterschelde area in the Netherlands. As a POW, Shand was imprisoned in the infamous Stalag Luft III near Sagan in Germany.
  
  Shand took part in the famous Great Escape of 24th March 1944 (not 1943 as stated by most of the press articles below!) when 76 RAF officers escaped to freedom through a 104-metre long tunnel. Like most of the escapers, he was recaptured, but miraculously wasn't among the 50 who were subsequently executed by the Gestapo.
  
  
  • Great Escape pilot dies aged 92 [New Zealand Herald]
  
  
  • The last of New Zealand's Great Escapers [Dominion Post]
  
  
  • Flight Lieutenant Mick Shand [Daily Telegraph]
  
  
  • Flight Lieutenant Michael Shand obituary [The Times]
  
  
  
• New Spitfire proposal to commemorate designer and machine
  The campaign for of raising a Spitfire memorial in Southampton seems to get elevated to new heights by a proposal presented recently by Mr. Colin Lee. Rather than simply a Spitfire replica, Mr. Lee proposes a tall monument at the city waterfront, showing RJ Mitchell proudly gazing skywards as his most decorated fighter plane soars high overhead. [Hampshire News]
  

Labels: history