Escaped German Pilots?

[GMU]

Originally Posted by lonestarson

Guenther Pluschow escaped from a prison camp in England, disguised himself as a Dutch seaman, and made his way aboard a Dutch ship to neutral Holland. From there he managed to get back to Germany, where he was promptly arrested as a spy. He was finally able to prove his identity and return to duty, I think he was made a naval station commander.

Yes, his is a very interesting story.

This is his son Guntolf Pluschow talking about his father.




Guntolf Plüschow - Interview - YouTube

[Gman]

Lot's of information about the time after WWI.

Not much of a father...

[Bobrah]

Not a complete escape, but an attempt by Otto THELEN:

Escaped German Prisoners. ONE of the prisoners who escaped from Dorchester last week and was recaptured at West Hartlepool on Monday, was Hans Heyn, who was the pilot cf a German seaplane which fell into the
North Sea. Of the two officers who escaped from Donnington Hall on Saturday one was the well-known German pilot Otto Thelen, of whom the following description has been circulated by the police authorities at Scotland Yard :— "Otto Thelen, German Flying Corps, aged 25, height 5 ft. 7 in., stiff build, weather-beaten features, somewhat sallow complexion, grey eyes, tair hair, slight scar on left part of forehead, caused by a burn, clean shaven, wearing knickers and stockings of greyish material. Speaks English with a foreign accent." A reward of £100 is offered to any person giving information which will lead to his arrest.

(Source: News-paper "Flight" on September 24, 1915 - gran | 1915 | 0722 | Flight Archive - text copied directly on the pdf file).

And: post free | mysterv

An other attempt by him :

"Sentence on Lieutenant Otto Thelen.
At a military court at Maidenhead on Tuesday, Lieutenant Otto Thelen, of the German Flying Corps, was sentenced to nine months' detention in the military barracks, Chelmsford, for attempting to escape by tunnelling from Holyport prison camp. Lieutenant Thelen was rescued from a sinking aeroplane in the North Sea and had previously escaped from Donington Hall."

(Source: News-paper "Flight" on February 10, 1916 - 1916 | 0126 | Flight Archive - text copied directly on the pdf file).

An other attempt by him : flexible shaft | hill gate | notting hill | 1916 | 1103 | Flight Archive

Articles:

daily mail | wright brothers | justice darling | 1916 | 1107 | Flight Archive

flying corps | royal flying | services fund | 1917 | 0532 | Flight Archive

There are other links, search by the word "Thelen" on the site Aviation History - Browse the History of Flight from 1909.

[Gman]

Jos,
I read through Volck's book "Die Woelfe" (the wolfs) again.
He did not specify any dates or units. Maybe because the war was still going on. In the foreword he mentions that he gave an oral presentation to Fieldmarshall von Hindenburg on 02/23/1918, and Hindenburg wished he would write a book about his experience.

Here a picture, Herbert Volk is bottom right:



The description reads: "Herbert Volck and his escape companion Josef Reis(bottom left) after their 1000km foot march through Persia at the the German Flying Headquarter in Mossul, January 1918"

[Jos]

Hello Gman,


Thanks for the trouble. I'll add the info to the Augie Blume's thread.


Jos