'Great Escape' prisoner of war and decorated pilot dies at 102 near Banbury

Captain Charles Vyvyan Howard RN, DSC, formerly of Mollington, assisted in the two most famous escape attempts that were dramatised in ‘The Wooden Horse’ and ‘The Great Escape’, starring Steve McQueen.

He was a prisoner in Stalag Luft III for two and a half years and in January 1945 was in the huge band of prisoners marched westwards ahead of the advancing Russian army in what became known as the Long March.

After four months of marching in harsh winter conditions they were liberated on May 2, 1945 near Lubeck by the British Army.

Capt Howard’s son – also called Vyvyan – said: “In common with many of his cohorts my father didn't speak much about his war years but later on in life he opened up. In the last 15 years we got a lot of information; he remembered events as clear as daylight.

"He spoke about his involvement in those various escapes and the Long March - it was a pretty torrid time. “Dad asked to be put into the Polish hut - he's a pretty good linguist. He came out being able to pose as a Polish native. After the war, he was still in the navy and while walking down Kensington High Street, by complete chance he bumped into a Polish man who had been with him in that hut in Stalag Luft III.“The man was an entomologist at Imperial College and he became my guardian when my father went to Singapore,” said Mr Howard."Dad said of his intake of 20 trainee pilots, only two survived the war - so being taken prisoner was probably his salvation. My father had a quiet wisdom. He was a special man.”

Charles Vyvyan Howard was born on November 11, 1919 at Hartlepool. He lived in Greatham, County Durham where his father was headmaster of the local primary school. In January 1930 he won a scholarship to The Henry Smith Grammar School. He matriculated and in 1937 he took up a position as an assistant at the research laboratories at ICI Billingham.

When it was apparent a war was on the horizon, Howard’s father advised him to join the Royal Navy to train as a pilot. He trained at Elmdon, Birmingham. One weekend he went on a ‘jolly’ to Blackpool where he met his future wife, Bernadette Taylor.

Howard moved to RAF Netheravon on Salisbury Plain for advanced training and gained his pilot’s wings in May 1940.

In September 1940 he joined the operational squadron No 828, flying Albacores, at Lee-on-Solent and in 1941 he was deployed to the Orkney Islands on convoy patrol and anti-aircraft duties.

In June of that year he joined the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious. On a fateful flying mission on the night of July 30, 1941 Howard was shot down into the fjord at Kirkenes in northern Norway close to the Russian border.

He described this incident on a visit to RAS Culdrose: “We launched our torpedo at a German ship in the harbour. As we turned to make our escape I heard a roar of cannon fire from below us; we were hit and the aircraft broke up around us. The next thing I knew we were in the fjord and swimming to the shore and captivity.”

Thirteen were killed on the raid and 25 captured; 16 aircraft were destroyed. Howard became a German prisoner of war (POW) for three and a half years. After being held in two small POW camps he was transferred to Stalag Luft III in June, 1942.

This camp was immortalised in the films The Wooden Horse (1950) and The Great Escape (1963). Howard was involved in aiding both escapes. He spent many an hour vaulting over the horse, while his role in The Great Escape was to distract the guards, since he could speak German.

The entrance to the tunnel called ‘Tom’ was in Howard’s hut. This was discovered by the German guards. The tunnel called ‘Dick’ ran directly under his hut. During his captivity he learned how to speak Polish and after the War he became a Polish interpreter for the Royal Navy.

Howard’s facility in the German language led to him attending meetings as interpreter between Senior Allied Officers and Oberst von Lindeiner, the Camp Commandant.

He later recounted that during the Long March, he owed his life to a Polish compatriot who gave him the advice ‘don’t ever take your boots off, only loosen them, or you will never get them on again because your feet will swell’.

Those who could not march were shot.

After three months of a very harsh winter Howard arrived at Wulmenau, near Lubeck, from where he wrote to Bernadette saying … ’A couple of British tanks caught us today, 2 May at 11.40 hrs and the infantry should be here this afternoon. Oh ye Gods, what a day of joy and rejoicing – cheers and wild waving – all of us, English, American, Polish, Russian, Dutch, French – everybody shouting to the stormy sky...’

Vyvyan sent his sweetheart a telegram on May 10, 1945: “Home today. Be seeing you soon.” They were married on June 2, 1945.

At the end of the war, Howard was offered a permanent commission by the Fleet Air Arm which he accepted. In 1949 he found himself at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose where he flew Seafires and Sea Furies in addition to Sea Vampires and Meteors in the new jet age.

Howard stayed in Cornwall for the next six years raising a family and working on various training squadrons before taking command of 830 Naval Air Squadron, flying the Westland Wyvern, the largest prop-driven single-seat airplane to operate from a Royal Navy carrier. The squadron was commissioned at RNAS Ford in Sussex and embarked on HMS Eagle in April 1956.

Its 16 aircraft became the only Wyverns to see combat when they participated in Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French intervention in The Suez War of 1956. 830 NAS mounted the first attack on November 1, 1956 attacking Egyptian airfields near the Suez Canal. Howard had flown many sorties by November 6 when the operation was called off. Two Wyverns were lost; at least one to ground fire.

Howard was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in the operations in the Near East from October - December, 1956.

He had memories of how congested the airspace was over Suez: “It was a very small area to operate and after a few days we were competing for the same targets with the other aircraft from the British and French carriers. It was like Piccadilly Circus. We often went against the Egyptian Air Force with their MIG jets. It was an exciting time.”

In 1960 Howard returned to Culdrose and took a helicopter acquaintance course before taking up a new job as the Fleet Aviation Officer on the Far East Staff in Singapore. He then spent two years on the Defence Policy Staff in Whitehall. His last appointment before retiring from the Royal Navy, as a Captain after over 36 years’ service, was as British Naval Attaché in Bonn, Germany.

After retirement from the RN he spent 10 years working at Halcrow Engineering before finally retiring to his home in Mollington.

Vyvyan Howard married Bernadette Taylor in 1945. She predeceased him. He is survived by a son and two daughters, 10 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Charles Vyvyan Howard, born November 11 1919, died September 14 2022 Sadly his wife died in 2009. Vyvyan has one son and twin daughters (Susan and Sarah), ten grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

In 2014 Capt Howard moved to Chacombe Park Nursing Home where he died on September 14. His funeral takes place at Mollington Church at 10.30am on Friday (September 30).