On 4th April 1941 4/4/41 Belgian pilots Michel Donnet and Leon Divoy escaped to the UK in a Stampe SV4B biplane.
I seem to recollect they were reunited with the actual aeroplane at a Biggin Hill Air Fair some years ago?
I haven’t read the book, but here is the publicity blurb for Donnet’s memoirs, Flight to Freedom, published by Ian Allan:
“When the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, Michael Donnet had just completed his training as an officer cadet in the Belgian Air Force. After a desperate one sided battle against the might of the Luftwaffe which ended with Belgium’s surrender, Donnet and his friend Leon Divoy were determined to carry on the fight, -in the air. Under the very noses of the Germans at an ammunition depot in the Foret de Soignes outside Brussels, they discovered a small biplane of ancient vintage apparently immobilised for the duration of the war. How Donnet and Divoy repaired the aircraft, collected the petrol and eventually took off for England all within earshot of a German garrison, is an escape story in the classic mould. It is told here in enthralling detail by Michael Donnet himself.
“But the story did not end with the arrival in England. Donnet and Divoy both became Spitfire pilots in the Royal Air Force and though Divoy crashed in spectacular circumstances and became a prisoner of war for the second time, Donnet became one of the leading RAF fighter pilots of the Second World War. Taking part in fighter operations from continuously from 1942 until VE Day, he tells a gripping account of the day to day life of one member of that gallant band of exiles who added so much to the lustre of the Royal Air Force.This unique personal story is lavishly illustrated with many original photographs from the author’s personal collection.”
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