As follow up to the daring von Werra exploits, here is some background from the following website:

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/franz_von_werra.htm:

At 05:30, the train pulled in at Codnor Park Station and von Werra was left in the care of the signalman, a Mr R. W. Harris. Von Werra wished to make a telephone call to the nearest base to arrange for a car to come and collect him, but the signalbox was not connected to the public telephone system, so Mr Harris suggested that he should wait until Sam Eaton, the booking clerk, arrived at 06:00 as there was a phone in his office. When Eaton arrived, he listened to von Werra’s story but was not at all happy with it and felt that he ought to contact the police. Needless to say this rather annoyed von Werra, who had no desire to undergo close inspection, but an hour later he was able to convince Mr Eaton to call the nearest base, RAF Hucknall, and arrange for a car to come and collect him. The police, however, arrived first. They questioned von Werra, but due to their inexperience and the young flyer’s knowledge of current events, they were soon satisfied that his story was genuine.

Shortly after the RAF car turned up. The guard was armed. Von Werra did not know it, but the Duty Officer at Hucknall, Squadron Leader Boniface, was already suspicious of his reported tale and so had sent the car out to pick him up. When he was brought to Hucknall and questioned by Boniface, von Werra claimed that he was based at Dyce aerodrome, near Aberdeen. Whilst in the process of getting in touch with Dyce to confirm this, Boniface asked von Werra for his identity disc, but to his horror he realised that the fake disc had melted with the heat and perspiration of his own body. Von Werra quickly made his excuses and asked if he might go to the toilet to wash his hands. Once out of the office, von Werra ran back in the direction from where the RAF car had driven him so that he might get to the nearest hangar. There was nobody to be seen and so he attracted no attention, although once inside the hangar there were numerous civilian builders at work on scaffolding, who looked with surprise upon this hasty individual. Moving amongst a collection of damaged and partially repaired aircraft, mostly bombers which were clearly not best suited to a speedy getaway, von Werra proceeded to climb over a security fence and, without realising it, was now in the Rolls Royce factory. He spotted a number of Hurricanes and walked towards them. Before he reached them, however, he encountered a group of mechanics, one of whom insisted on taking him aside to sign the visitors book. The man in question had assumed from von Werra’s uniform, which was very similar in style, that he was one of the ATA ferry pilots who, frequently hailing from foreign lands, were a common sight at Hucknall, from where they flew Hurricanes out to bases around the country. However, one or two of the mechanics were getting suspicious at the actions of von Werra as they differed much from the ferry pilots that they were used to. Again he slipped away from their sight and managed to convince a different mechanic that he had been told to make a test flight, on the orders of Squadron Leader Boniface. The mechanic, who even gave von Werra a quick explanation of the cockpit controls, left to fetch a trolley-accumulator to start the engine for him. While he was gone, Squadron Leader Boniface appeared alongside the aircraft and, with a revolver aimed at von Werra’s head, ordered him out.

Von Werra accepted defeat and stepped from the aircraft. He was taken back to the RAF Adjutant’s office, where he gave a true account of his identity and where he had come from. As they waited for the police to arrive and collect him, RAF courtesy was not forgotten and the prisoner was allowed to have some breakfast. In Nottingham Police Headquarters, von Werra spent the next 24 hours locked in a cell before a military escort arrived to return him to the Hayes, where his punishment was 14 days in solitary confinement. Once again, the strict definition of life in the cooler did not proceed according to plan as von Werra and his fellow escapers, who by now were sharing the same fate, were all allowed their Christmas Dinner and some wine.

Cheers,

Matt