23 Facts About Sydney Dowse

Flight Lieutenant Sydney Hastings Dowse MC was a Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and survived The Great Escape during the Second World War.

Sydney Dowse was commissioned as a pilot officer on 21 October 1940, with seniority from 9 August 1940.

Sydney Dowse joined No 608 Squadron attached to Coastal Command flying Avro Ansons on anti-submarine and convoy escort operations.

Sydney Dowse was mentioned in despatches on 11 June 1942 and promoted to flight lieutenant on 21 October 1942, with seniority from 9 August 1942.

Sydney Dowse was wounded in the leg and quickly captured by the Germans, becoming a prisoner of war.

Sydney Dowse's first escape attempt came on 1 December 1941, when he was recovering from the leg wound sustained when he was shot down.

Sydney Dowse escaped from a hospital at Stadtroda in Thuringia.

However, Sydney Dowse was recaptured three days later attempting to cross the Dutch-German border.

Sydney Dowse exchanged identities with a Canadian POW and joined a work party.

Sydney Dowse managed to slip away unnoticed when outside the camp.

Six RAF officers managed to escape, but, due to the proximity of the sentry, no one else, including Sydney Dowse, was able to do so.

In May 1942, Sydney Dowse was transferred to Stalag Luft III at Sagan with a batch of other RAF officers.

Sydney Dowse, who spoke some German, befriended a German corporal who worked alongside Sydney Dowse in the camp's censor office.

From this contact, Sydney Dowse was able to gain useful information and documents which aided the camp escape organisation.

Sydney Dowse was able to 'borrow' a genuine gate pass, which was copied by the camp's forgery department, and a copy was used on the delousing break mass escape in June 1943.

Sydney Dowse learnt that the Gestapo had liquidation plans for Roger Bushell if he were caught escaping again.

One tunnel, codenamed 'Harry' which Sydney Dowse had helped build, was completed in early 1944.

Sydney Dowse had drawn escape number 21, and was disguised as a Danish foreign worker, equipped with the appropriate documents and clothing provided by his 'contact'.

At Sachsenhausen, Sydney Dowse found himself with three fellow survivors of the 'Great Escape':.

Sydney Dowse paired up with Day and they travelled by train into Berlin.

Sydney Dowse was awarded the Military Cross for his services as a POW.

Sydney Dowse lived mainly on his heroic stories from the war, which were a laissez passer in post-war society.

Sydney Dowse returned to Stalag Luft III in March 1994 and March 2004 to mark the anniversaries of the Great Escape, and to commemorate his friends who did not survive.