Evader Stories

Evader (escaper)

Name	Wyatt John Hugh
Rank	Sgt
Crew position	Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Service	RAF
Aircraft	Hampden P1347
Date of loss	04/09/1940
Target	Stettin
PoW camp(s)	Toulouse Prison but then escaped via Gibraltar
PoW number	None issued (see below)
Sgt Wyatt's story is both interesting and unfortunate. He was shot down whilst serving with 49Sqn (the details are given below) and, after returning to the UK, joined 78Sqn but was shot down again on the 11/8/42. Following the 1940 crash he was in reality a prisoner of the Vichy French Government, athough imprisonment at that time was a sort of benevolent confinement, nothing compared to what POWs had to endure in German-run camps later. His escape back to the UK allowed him to serve again. Had an airman escaped from a German PoW camp he would not have been expected to return to duty in the same theatre of operation. Sgt Wyatt is therefore recorded twice on the website......see Prisoners of War (49Sqn wishes to thank Oliver Clutton-Brock for the above information)
Sgt Wyatt is on the left of the picture



4/5 September, 1940; STETTIN - OIL TARGET: Five aircraft from 49 Squadron operated from Mildenhall this night. Four were successful in bombing the primary target, whilst the crew captained by F/O Hodges (P1347) failed to return. In the cold grey light of dawn, F/O Bob Hodges and crew sighted the coastline of what they presumed to be Cornwall. Having been airborne for over 9 hours, shortage of fuel made landing imperative. As they entered the circuit of what they thought to be St.Eval, much to their consternation, they were greeted by light flak. Beating a hasty retreat the pilot gradually climbed to a safe height, and with his engines showing the first signs of fuel starvation, he ordered his crew to bale out. After holding his aircraft steady whilst his crew escaped, the pilot then elected to crash land the aircraft (there being insufficient height for his own safe escape). A successful crash landing was made, and much to the surprise of the pilot, Sgt Wyatt was still aboard; intercom problems prevented him from receiving the order to jump. The broken wreck of Hampden D-Donald had come to rest in a field near St Brieuc... in Brittany! The crew became prisoners or war, but while in a camp at Toulouse in southern France, F/O Hodges and Sgt Wyatt managed to escape and returned to England via Gibraltar. Over a year later, Bob Hodges, by now a Wing Commander, joined 161 Special Duties Squadron at Tempsford where he participated in many clandestine operations. Happily he survived the war, receiving a Knighthood for his deeds as a mark of gratitude from a thankful nation. F/O L.M. Hodges Pilot (Escaped) Sgt S.J. Hitchings (P.o.W.) Sgt J.H. Wyatt (Escaped) Sgt L.C. Turnbull (P.o.W.)