Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

Brian Paddon DSO (24 August 190821 February 1967), was a Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and successfully escaped from Colditz Castle during the Second World War.

Early life

Paddon was born in Carshalton,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, the son of the Reverend Charles Salmon Paddon and his wife Nellie Symington Paddon.Royal Aero Club Aviator's Licence 10796. In the 1911 Census of Redruth in Cornwall, Paddon, aged two, is living with his parents at Lannarth Vicarage. 1911 Census of Redruth, RG14/13962, Brian Paddon, age 2, at Lannarth Vicarage, Redruth, Cornwall, born Carshalton, Surrey.

Royal Air Force service

Paddon joined the RAF on a short service commission as a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

(on probation) in June 1929. He obtained his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Licence #10796 on 3 September 1932. Paddon was shot down flying Bristol Blenheim L8827 of

No. 40 Squadron RAF No. 40 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1916 at Gosport as No. 40 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and was disbanded for the last time in 1957. The squadron also included many non-British members, including volunteers from the Royal Austra ...

during an attack at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux on 6 June 1940 as part of the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

.Chorley, W R. (1998). RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Vol 1 – 1939/1940. Midland Publishing. . Page 72. He was captured and became a prisoner of war.

Prisoner of war

After passing through the interrogation and transit camp of

Dulag luft Dulag Luft (''Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe'', Transit Camp of the Airforce) were Prisoner of War (POW) transit camps for German-captured members of the Air Force during World War II. Their main purpose was to act as collection and interrogation c ...

, he was first sent to

Oflag IX-A/H Oflag IX-A was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located in Spangenberg Castle in the small town of Spangenberg in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Camp history The camp was opened in October 1939 as Oflag IX-AMattiello (1986), p.206 to hou ...

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

, before shortly afterwards leaving for

Stalag Luft I Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town of Barth from Allied bombing. About 9,000 ...

at Barth, arriving there on 12 July 1940, where he became the Senior British Officer. After several escape attempts from various camps, he was sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, arriving there on 14 May 1941 with three other officers, including

Airey Neave Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, (;) (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1953 until his assassination in 1979. During World War II he was the first British prisoner-of-war ...

. After several more attempts to escape, on 11 June 1942, he was sent to a

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

Stalag XX-A Stalag XX-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Toruń in German-occupied Poland. It was not a single camp and contained as many as 20,000 men at its peak. The main camp was located in seven forts of the 19th-century Toruń ...

for insulting a German officer during one of his previous escape attempts. However, he managed to escape from his cell, and with the aid of other British prisoners of war, left the camp with a work party by picking up a ladder and placing on his shoulder, slipped away and travelled to Danzig. He didn't put the ladder down. No one stopped him. ource: personal family stories handed down the generations He stowed away on a Swedish ship and successfully reached neutral Sweden on 18 June. He returned to the UK on 6 August 1942. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and promoted to

group captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Paddon retired from service on 10 November 1950.

Family life

Paddon married Sheila Mary Mansell in 1935, but she died in Malta on 23 September 1939. They had two daughters. He married again in 1948 to Anita Williams; they had three daughters both born in Rhodesia. He later married Kay Paddon. He died in retirement in Rhodesia in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paddon, Brian 1908 births 1967 deaths Royal Air Force officers English aviators British World War II pilots British World War II bomber pilots British World War II prisoners of war Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle World War II prisoners of war held by Germany British escapees Shot-down aviators Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Air Force personnel who were court-martialled