Date of birth:

March 6th, 1913 (Vancouver/British Columbia, Canada)

Date of death:

May 6th, 1993

Service number:

77131

Nationality:

British (1801-present, Kingdom)

Oliver Philpot studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford University. During his time at Oxford he joined the Oxford University Air Squadron and learned to fly.
He was called up for service in August 1939 and was posted to No. 42 Squadron which was a Coastal Command unit.
On December 11th, 1941 he was shot down and the aircraft ditched in the North Sea where the crew spent two days in a dinghy before being picked up by a German naval vessel. After recuperating in a German hospital in Oslo, he was moved to a series of camps before being finally interned in Stalag Luft III and soon became interested in escaping.
There he met Lieutenant Richard Michael Codner RA and Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams who invented the idea of The Wooden Horse which was a vaulting horse which stood on the outskirts of the camp, where from inside, diggers would dig a tunnel. In the mean time, the horse was used by gymnasts for excercises to cover up the digging. On October 29th, 1943, Codner, Williams and Philpot escaped and managed to reach neutral Sweden and went from there on to England. The three men were the only successful escapers from the East Compound at Stalag Luft III throughout the war.
He did not return to operational flying and after debriefing by MI9 he was posted to the Air Ministry as a senior scientific officer.
After the war Philpot resumed his career in the food industry eventually becoming chief executive of Findus the frozen food company. He later became managing director of Remploy. He also served as chairman of the RAF Escaping Society.
In 1950 Philpot published Stolen Journey in which he described daily life as a prisoner in various POW camps. Also in the same year the story of the escape of Codner, Williams and Philpot was brought to the public with the movie 'The Wooden Horse'.

Promotions:
January 15th, 1940: Acting Pilot Officer (probation)
August 10th, 1940: Pilot Officer (probation)
January 15th, 1941: Pilot Officer
August 10th, 1941: Flying Officer (war sub)
August 10th, 1942: Flight Lieutenant (war sub)

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Pilot Officer

Unit:

No. 42 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

July 1st, 1941

Recommendation:
"This officer was the pilot of a Beaufort aircraft taking part in a bombing attack on an enemy aerodrome and shipping in Norway on the night of 9/10th May 1941. In spite of considerable anti-aircraft fire and an enemy night fighter on his tail, he dived to about 200 feet and released his bombs, scoring hits in the target area. As he recovered from his dive, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire which killed the navigator and seriously wounded the wireless operator.
In spite of his compass having been hit also and rendered unserviceable, Pilot Officer Philpott brought his aircraft back and landed it safely on an aerodrome, even though the hydraulic controls had been shot away and he had the use of neither flaps nor undercarriage."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Flight Lieutenant

Unit:

No. 42 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

May 16th, 1944

• - The London Gazette Issue 35206 published on the 1 July 1941
  - Fourth Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36516 published on the 12 May 1944
  - Copy of the original recommendation - STIWOT archive
  - Air Force Association of Canada
  - The Telegraph - Obituaries