Colditz Cock

Colditz Cock
The only known photograph of the original "Cock" glider. Taken on 15th April 1945[1] by Lee Carson, one of two American newspaper correspondents assigned to the task force which captured the castle[2].
Role	Glider for prison escape
Manufacturer	Inmates of Oflag IV-C
Designer	Bill Goldfinch, Jack Best
First flight	Never flew
Retired	1945
Primary user	Allied PoWs
Number built	1

The Colditz Cock was a glider built by British prisoners of war for an escape attempt from Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle) in Germany.

Background

Following the execution of 50 prisoners who had taken part in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III, the Allied High Command had discouraged escape attempts, though the plan to build a glider was encouraged in order to divert the energies of the prisoners from descending into boredom and tedium. The idea for the glider came from Lieutenant Tony Rolt. Rolt, who was not even an airman, had noticed the chapel roof line was completely obscured from German view. He realised that the roof would make a perfect launching point from which the glider could fly across the River Mulde, which was about 60 metres below.

Construction

The team was headed by Bill Goldfinch and Jack Best. Goldfinch and Best were aided by their discovery in the prison library of "Aircraft Design", a two-volume work by C.H. Latimer-Needham which explained the necessary physics and engineering and included a detailed diagram of a wing section. The glider was assembled by Goldfinch and Best and 12 assistants known as "apostles", in the lower attic above the chapel. The runway was to be constructed from tables and the glider was to be launched using a pulley system based on a falling metal bathtub full of concrete, using a gravity-assisted acceleration to 30 mph (50 km/h).

The officers who took part in the project built a false wall to hide the secret space in the attic where they slowly built the glider from stolen pieces of wood. Since the Germans were accustomed to looking down for tunnels, not up for secret workshops, the officers felt quite safe from detection. Nevertheless, they placed many lookouts and created an electric alarm system to warn the builders of approaching guards.

Hundreds of ribs had to be constructed, predominantly formed from bed slats, but also from every other piece of wood the POWs could surreptitiously obtain. The wing spars were constructed from floor boards. Control wires were made from electrical wiring in unused portions of the castle. A glider expert, Lorne Welch, was asked to review the stress diagrams and calculations made by Goldfinch.

The glider constructed was a lightweight, two-seater, high wing, monoplane design. It had a Mooney style rudder and square elevators. The wingspan, tip to tip, was 32 ft (9.75 m), and it was 19 ft 9 in (6 m) from nose to tail. Prison sleeping bags of blue and white checked cotton were used to skin the glider, and German ration millet was boiled and used as a form of dope to seal the cloth pores. The completed glider weighed 240 lb (109 kg).

A list of tools used in constructing the Glider
Side-framed saw handle of beech bed board frame of iron window bars blade of gramophone spring with 8 teeth / in (3 mm teeth) Minute saw for fine work gramophone spring blade, 25 teeth / in (1 mm teeth) 5/8 in (16 mm) metal drill obtained by bribery drill bits for making holes made from nails A gauge made of beech, with cupboard bolt and gramophone needle	Large plane, 14½ in (368 mm) long 2 inch blade obtained by bribing a German guard wooden box (four pieces of beech screwed together) Small plane, 8½ in (216 mm) long blade made from a table knife Plane, 5 in (127 mm) long Square made of beech with gramophone spring blade Set of keys including: universal door pick, forged from a bucket handle

The take-off was scheduled for the spring of 1945 during an air raid blackout but by then the Allied guns could be heard and the war's outcome was fairly certain. The British escape officer decided that the glider should be available for use in case the SS ordered the massacre of the prisoners as a way to get a message out to approaching American troops. The glider was approaching completion when the American Army liberated the camp on 16 April 1945.

Although the Colditz Cock never flew in real life, the concept was fictionalized, depicting a successful flight and escape, in the 1971 TV movie The Birdmen starring Doug McClure, Chuck Connors, Rene Auberjonois and Richard Basehart. One episode of the BBC TV series "Colditz" depicts the decision to build a glider as an escape attempt. It is also depicted in the final escape from Colditz Castle in the fictional story depicted in Prisoner of War, a game on the Sony PlayStation 2.

The fate of the glider is not known but the castle was in the zone controlled by the Russians who did not co-operate with its reclamation. The only evidence of its completion was a photograph, said to have been taken by an American soldier. However, Goldfinch had kept his drawings which enabled a one-third scale model to be constructed. This was eventually launched from the castle roof in 1993.

Modern replica

A replica of the Colditz Glider as seen at the Imperial War Museum in London, United Kingdom.

A full-sized replica of the Colditz glider was commissioned by Channel 4 and was built by Southdown Aviation Ltd at Lasham Airfield. The glider was flown successfully by John Lee on its first attempt at RAF Odiham with Best, Goldfinch and about a dozen of the veterans who had worked on the original more than 55 years earlier proudly looking on. Jack Best died later that year. The replica is now housed at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton.

The programme was shown in 2000 by Channel 4 in the UK as part of a 3-part documentary series called "Escape from Colditz". The Channel 4 material was edited to 60 minutes and shown in the US in 2001 as "Nazi Prison Escape" on the NOVA television series.

A flyable expanded polystyrene model of the glider was produced by the model kit manufacturer Airfix in its Skycraft range in the 1970s.^[3]

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Capacity: One passenger
• Length: 19 ft 9 in (6.00 m)
• Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.75 m)
• Empty weight: 240 lb (110 kg)

See also

• Attempts to escape Oflag IV-C
  

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Schneider Grunau Baby
  

Related lists

• List of gliders
  

References

1. ^ P.R.Reid "The Latter Days at Colditz", chapter XXV
2. ^ P.R.Reid "Colditz: The Final Story", photograph caption
3. ^ James, D.B. (2009). "The Airfix Kit Range". pws.prserv.net. http://pws.prserv.net/gbinet.dbjames/kits.htm. Retrieved 5 July 2011. 

External links

• Obituary of Bill Goldfinch from the Daily Telegraph October 2007
• Article from Soaring magazine by Wade H. Nelson
• Report from the Guardian newspaper before the flight of the replica
• Script from Nova TV program
• Full documentary from Channel 4's 4oD (UK Only)

Coordinates: 51°07′53″N 12°48′26″E / 51.13139°N 12.80722°E / 51.13139; 12.80722