Operation: Photographic Reconnaissance, Wilhelmshaven and Emden, Germany

Date: 13th March 1942 (Friday)

Unit No: 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), 16 Group, RAF Coastal Command

Type: Spitfire PR.IV

Serial No: AA783

Code: LY

Location: Leeuwarden, Holland

Base: RAF Wick, Scotland

Pilot: Plt Off. Alastair Thompson McDonald 115420 RAFVR Age 24. PoW No. 16 *

* Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

Note: In conformity with the normal practice of these units the aircraft carried no individual identification letter.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 13th March 1942 Plt Off. McDonald took off in Spitfire PR.IV AA783 from RAF Wick in Scotland on a photographic reconnaissance mission to Wilhelmshaven and Emden in Germany. He failed to return to base at the expected time.

Above a Spitfire from 1 PRU - By RAF, This photograph HU 26292 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain

The only claim for a Spitfire this day was by Fw. Ernst Winkler, his 9th Abschuss, from 4./JG 1 over the sea 3 mls (5 km) SW of Leeuwarden at 14:14 hrs. (The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) (German Air Force High Command) fighter claims for the Reich, West & Südfront).

Oblt. Winkler was shot down and KiA on the 17th November 1943, in one of five (5) Fw190s destroyed by Norwegian Spitfire pilots near Vlissingen. Oblt. Winkler had twelve (12) confirmed Abschüsse attributed to him with three (3) others unconfirmed. However only one (1) of the confirmed has been found in records so the remainder are opened to question. (Luftwaffe ACES - Biographies and Victory Claims (Mathews and Foreman) - Volume 4).

Plt Off. McDonald baled out and landed near Leeuwarden where he was captured uninjured. He was transferred to Dulag Luft, Oberursel arriving there on the 16th March. He was held in solitary confinement for 18 days and interrogated during this period.

On the 12th April 1942 he was transferred to Stalag Luft 3 at Sagan-Silesia arriving there on the 15th April. Whilst in the East Compound he assisted in nine (9) tunnel projects and an abortive gate crash attempt.

He was transferred to the North Compound where he and Flt Lt. Clow escaped by cutting through the wire but they were captured almost immediately.

This was Flt Lt. Ernest Clow 402540 RNZAF, PoW No. 1077, who was the pilot of 138 Sqn Halifax II HR665 on an SOE mission on the night of the 24th/54th March 1943, which was shot down by a night-fighter and made a successfully ditching in the IJsselmeer off Enkhuizen. The seven crew (7) became PoWs. One of the two Dutch agents aboard drowned whilst the other evaded capture.

He was promoted to Fg Off. on the 1st October 1942 and then to Flt Lt. on the 23rd December 1943.

He was one of the numerous Code Letter Writers who incorporated coded messages in their outgoing letters and postcards. Flt Lt. McDonald earned for himself or was selected on an early position in the line of two-hundred (200) hoping to escape from the north compound of Stalag Luft 3.

On the night of the 24th/25th March 1944, seventy-six (76) officers escaped from the north compound of Stalag Luft 3 which, at that time, held between 1000 and 1500 RAF PoWs. The escape was made by the means of a tunnel. At about 05:00 hrs on the 25th March the 77th PoW was spotted by guards as he emerged from the tunnel.

Flt Lt. McDonald was carrying false papers and wearing civilian clothes. He was recaptured by members of the Landwacht who made a half-hearted attempt to beat him up. He was taken to the prison at Görlitz and interrogated by the Gestapo. After being returned to Stalag Luft 3 and learning the fate of fifty (50) of the escapees he was of the opinion that because he had been able to eat his false papers and sew RAF buttons onto his greatcoat that this could have been the reason why he was not shot.

An overview of the German response to the escape and the subsequent British prosecution of those responsible for the murder of fifty (50) of the escapees is summarised in the report entitled “The Fifty - The Great Escape”.

On the night of the 27th January 1945, with Soviet troops only 26 km (16 mls) away, orders were received to evacuate the PoWs to Spremberg which is to the West in Germany. The PoW’s were informed of the evacuation, which was on foot, at about 22:00 hrs the same night and were given 30 mins to pack and prepare everything for the March. The weather conditions were very difficult, with freezing temperatures, and it was snowing accompanied by strong winds. There was 15 cm (6 in) of snow and 2000 PoWs were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main groups.

After a 55 km (34 mls) march, the PoWs arrived in Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours. The PoWs were then marched the remaining 26 km (16 mls) to Spremberg where they were housed in empty garages, storerooms and in military barracks. There they were provided with warm soup and bread.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages. On the 2nd February he was amongst the group that was sent to the Marlag und Milag Nord PoW at Westertimke.

Marlag is an acronym for Marinelager (naval prisoner of war camp), Milag is short for Marine-Internierten-Lager(naval internment camp), and Nord is German for ‘north’.

On the 2nd April 1945 the Commandant announced that he had received orders to leave the camp with most of his guards, leaving only a small detachment behind to hand over the camp to Allied forces, who were already in Bremen.

However, that afternoon a detachment of over a hundred (100) SS-Feldgendarmerie entered the camp, mustered over 3,000 men and marched them out, heading east. Flt Lt McDonald was one of a number of PoWs that hid in the surrounding countryside or in the barracks to escape the muster.

On the 9th April 1945 the guards at Marlag-Milag moved out and were replaced by older men, presumably local Volkssturm. It was on this day that he and twenty-two (22) other PoWs escape from the camp. He was disguised as a French forced labourer and made his way west towards the Allied lines. He was liberated by elements of the 52nd Lowland Division of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. He was interviewed on the 26th April 1945.

On his General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-Prisoners of War Flt Lt. McDonald stated that he was born on the 11th April 1913. However, Bill Robertson, who has researched Alastair’s story has determined from a Parish Register that he was born on the 18th April 1907 in Bishopmills near Elgin in Scotland so it appears that he lied to meet the age criteria prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 6th June 1940.

Note: It was generally considered that the upper age limit that the RAF considered for aircrew training was 32 and generally anyone in the upper end of the age spectrum would not be offered training as a pilot. Those pilots over the age of 30 were in the main pre-war auxiliaries, reservists or regulars.

He stated that he was employed as a Rubber Planter, which may have been his employment whilst he was in Malaya from where he returned to London on the 29th April 1932 via Yokohama in Japan.

After earning his Pilot’s wings 1053422 Sgt. McDonald was appointed to a temporary commission and promoted to 115420 Plt Off. on the 22nd December 1941 (London Gazette 17th February 1942).

On the 27th October 1965 Alastair McDonald was aboard British European Airways (BEA) Vickers Vanguard G-APEE on a scheduled domestic flight from Edinburgh’s Turnhouse Airport to London Heathrow.

During final approach the aircraft encountered fog with reports of visibility down to 50 feet. After two missed approaches the pilot decided to overshoot again, however, the aircraft crashed 2,600 feet from the runway threshold at about 01:23 hrs and burst into flames killing all 36 crew and passengers.

Above: Coventry man’s brother among air crash victims (Courtesy of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, dated 28th October 1965)

Burial details:

None - Survived the war

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to this Pilot and his relatives with thanks to Bill Robertson for his information (Jan 2025).

Other sources listed below:

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