APPENDIX VI

STALAG LUFT VII (BANKAU) PRISONERS OF WAR

The airmen POWs at Luft 7 flew thirty-four different types of aircraft, listed in the table below, including such rareties as the Bristol Bombay and Supermarine Walrus. The USAAF Consolidated B-24 was known to the RAF as the Liberator. The Canso was the Canadian-built Consolidated PBY Catalina. As for the Airspeed Horsa glider, though over 660 were towed into action at Arnhem in September 1944, only two GPR men seem to have noted their aircraft’s serial number.

TYPES OF AIRCRAFT FLOWN BY STALAG LUFT VII POWS:

Re the list of names below, the first three columns are simply Name, Initial, and Rank.

The fourth is Nationality, British unless otherwise stated: AUS – Australian, BEL – Belgian, CAN – Canadian, CZ- Czechoslovakian, EIR – Irish Republic, FRA – French, HOL – Dutch, MAL – Maltese, MAU – Mauritian, NR – Northern Rhodesia, NZ – New Zealand, POL – Polish, SA – South African, SR – Southern Rhodesia, USA – American.

The fifth column is the unique service number; sixth, the squadron on which he was serving, or other unit: e.g. AMES – Air Ministry Experimental Station, BD – Bomb Disposal, BSD – Base Signals Depot, GPR – Glider Pilot Regiment, LWU – Light Warning Unit.

Seventh and eighth columns are the type of aircraft in which he was flying and its unique serial number; ninth, the date on which lost (or captured); tenth, the camp(s) to which sent; eleventh, his POW number; and twelfth, the number of the Trupp in which he arrived at Luft 7.

  In the final column ‘ss’ means sole survivor of the crew, the number after it signifying how many in the crew. Re a GPR man the squadron and flight to which he belonged are shown as e.g. F/16 – F Squadron, 16 Flight. Where the attribution is shown with an asterisk, e.g. D/*, the ‘*’ indicates that the flight number is unknown. But note also, e.g., Bayford, G.W. who was attached elsewhere.

The squadron/flight details are taken from Appendix 11 of Glider Pilots at Arnhem. Anything
followed by a question mark ‘?’ is unconfirmed or doubtful.

Other, selected, initials are: DMT – Driver Motor Transport; G/G – Ground gunner; LCT – Landing Craft (Tank). n/a – not applicable; n/k – not known; S&T – Supply & Transport column; TCG/TCS – Troop Carrier Group/Squadron (USAAF).