Thomas D. Calnan

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Thomas Daniel Calnan
Born (1915-12-16) 16 December 1915 (age 108)
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Air Force
Years of service 1936 – 1959
Rank Wing Commander
Battles/wars World War II

Thomas Daniel Calnan (born 16 December 1915) is an English pilot and prisoner-of-war of World War II, who wrote a memoir of his time in German captivity entitled Free As A Running Fox.

Calnan was commissioned in the RAF on 19 December 1936.[1]

Calnan was shot down while flying a Spitfire on a photo-reconnaissance mission over France in December 1941. He gives some brief background about himself and his flying career with the RAF's No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, but devotes most of the book to his escape attempts while a prisoner of the Germans. He was incarcerated at Stalag Luft III during the period of the "Great Escape."[2]

He was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 January 1949, and retired on 14 February 1959.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Royal Air Force Retired List (1976)
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