The Underground and Civilian Heroes.

In the early years of the war, R.A.F Fighter and Bomber Command continued without letup in sorties over the continent, daily battles ensued as the opposing forces fought high above in aerial combat. Bomber and fighter aircraft with their crews took severe losses, they were being shot down at an alarming rate, the aircrews who managed to survive the crash or bale out were desperate to avoid capture and get back home. Apart from the financial loss to the government for every plane and bomber lost, was the more important factor that these aircrews were desperately needed back home to continue the fight.

The cost to train a fighter pilot in the R.A.F was about £15, 000, to train the bomber pilot and its crew about £10, 000 …with the horrendous losses of bombers and fighter aircraft being shot down and crews lost, it was imperative to get these valuable men back to England…whatever the cost…!!!

When the U.S.A.A.F arrived in England to assist the R.A.F in mass bombing raids to Germany, they too succumbed to the perils of aerial warfare as hundreds of bombers were shot down over Holland, Belgium and France. The aircrews needed help in escaping from the enemy and tried their utmost to avoid capture, desperately searching for whatever help they could find. The fighting men and women from all the Allied Forces and the secret agents employed for undercover operations, accepted it as a part of their honourable duty to try and escape from capture or imprisonment, using the skills taught in their training, and their own cunning and cold-blooded courage to outwit the enemy in an endeavour to return home to fight again, all would risk their very lives Heroically…some succeeded valiantly, others became victims and perished