Patrick Palles Lorne Elphinstone Welch, (12 August 1916 – 15 May 1998), generally known just as "Lorne Welch", was a British engineer who became a pilot in the UK Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and a world-famous glider pilot after the war. Flying over Germany in 1942, his aircraft was badly damaged and he landed it in a field in the Netherlands, becoming a prisoner of war. Later, he tried to escape and ending up in

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig (district), Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C prisoner-of-war camp, POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situa ...

, where particularly aggressive Prisoners of War were locked up. Profession and Gliding Lorne was educated at

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

and became an engineer and then an engine test flight observer at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

, Farnborough. He also learned to fly gliders at the London Gliding Club. He took up powered flying, becoming an instructor in 1939. When the war started he moved on to multi-engined aircraft and trained pilots on

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

bombers. Later, Air Chief Marshal Harris organised 'Thousand Bomber' raids, using every available pilot, including instructors at conversion units. Lorne was shot down over The Netherlands on his fourth raid. He landed his damaged aircraft but one of his crew men was trapped. Lorne insisted on staying with the wreckage until his crew member was rescued and could be taken to hospital (see https://www.bbc.com/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/40/a8125940.shtml) He was sent to

Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...

in Sagan, where he assisted in "The Great Escape" by building the ventilation pump and fixed links for the tunnel through which 76 prisoners later escaped. Prior to that, however, on 12 June 1943 24 officers, escorted by two fake German guards, made another mass escape attempt, the " Delousing break", Welch and Flight Lieutenant

Walter Morison Flight Lieutenant Walter McDonald Morison (26 November 1919 – 26 March 2009) was a Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and was sent to Colditz for attempting to steal an enemy aircraft during the Second World War. Early life ...

among them. Morison and Lorne

This pair walked to a nearby airfield and attempted to steal a

Junkers W 34 The Junkers W 34 was a German-built, single-engine, passenger and transport aircraft. Developed in the 1920s, it was taken into service in 1926. The passenger version could take a pilot and five passengers. The aircraft was developed from the ...

while wearing fake German uniforms. They had to abandon the attempt when the rightful crew appeared to fly away the aircraft. The next day, they returned and tried to steal a biplane. They were recaptured, along with all the other escapees. The other 24 POWs were returned to camp, but Welch and Morison were sent to

Oflag IV-C Oflag IV-C, generally known as Colditz Castle, was a prominent German Army prisoner-of-war camp for captured Allied officers during World War II. Located in Colditz, Saxony, the camp operated within the medieval Colditz Castle, which overlooks th ...

at Colditz. At Colditz, the ''

Colditz Cock The Colditz Cock was a glider built by British prisoners of war during World War II for an escape attempt from Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle) prison camp in Germany. Background After the execution of 50 prisoners who had taken part in the " Gr ...

'' glider was already under construction, and Welch performed vital stress calculations. Although the original glider never flew, a replica was successfully flown in February 2000. While at Colditz he entered a competition, sponsored by the

Royal Ocean Racing Club The Royal Ocean Racing Club is a club in London with a further clubhouse and office in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was established in 1925 as the Ocean Racing Club, as a result of a race to the Fastnet Rock from Cowes, finishing in Plymouth. It re ...

, for prisoners of war to design an offshore yacht of 32–35 ft waterline length. Via the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, he submitted detailed drawings and calculations and won the first prize of £50. He was liberated in 1945.

After the War

Lorne returned to Farnborough to work on rocket motors. He re-commenced gliding and became chief instructor of the Surrey Gliding Club at Redhill. The Surrey club moved to Lasham airfield, south of Basingstoke, which was further away from airliner activity than Redhill and soon became the largest gliding base in he UK with other clubs flying there as well as Surrey. At Lasham, Lorne became a test pilot for new aircraft for the

British Gliding Association The British Gliding Association (BGA) is the governing body for gliding in the United Kingdom. Gliding in the United Kingdom operates through 80 gliding clubs (both civilian and service) which have 2,310 gliders and 9,462 full flying members (i ...

together with other Lasham pilots such as

Frank Irving Frank Irving (7 April 1925 – August 2005) was a British aeronautical engineer, glider pilot, author and university lecturer. Early life and education Francis George Irving was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom. He attended St. Edward's C ...

who was an aerodynamics tutor at Imperial College, London. Lorne was a British team pilot in four

world gliding championships The World Gliding Championships (WGC) is a gliding competitions, gliding competition held roughly every two years by the FAI Gliding Commission. The dates are not always exactly two years apart, often because the contests are always held in the sum ...

. He was the first pilot to soar a glider twice across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

: first from Redhill to Brussels in a DFS 108 Weihe, and then in a two-seater glider flying from Lasham with Frank Irving. He married Ann Douglas, also a pilot and sailor, in 1953. His retirement was spent gliding at Lasham and sailing and working on his boat. Lorne Welch died on 15 May 1998. He was survived by his wife Ann and their daughter.

References

''The Times'' obituary 1998

External links

1943 wanted poster for Welch, Morison and Flying Officer John Gifford Stower
in the collection of the Imperial War Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Lorne 1916 births 1998 deaths People educated at Stowe School Royal Air Force officers British World War II pilots Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle British glider pilots