I found this ... looking for something else ... made me smile !! 24/11/1941 Two Luftwaffe officers, make the war's most audacious attempt to escape from a British POW camp. Lt. Heinz Schnabel and Oblt. Harry Wappler were prisoners in Camp No.15 near Penrith, Northumbria. Forging papers that identified them as Dutch officers serving in the RAF, they made their way to the RAF airfield at Kingstown near Carlisle and started the engine of a Miles Magister. Taking off, they soon realized they did not have the fuel to make it to Nazi-occupied Holland reluctantly they turned back, landing in a field about five miles north of Great Yarmouth. Recaptured, they were sent back to Camp No.15 again and sentenced to 28 days solitary confinement.
It was an audacious attempt but there seems to be a dispute about which camp they escaped from: German And Italian Escape Attempts and scans of an article about Schnabel: Heinz Schnabel - The one who nearly got away Heinz Schnabel - The one who nearly got away Heinz Schnabel - The one who nearly got away Heinz Schnabel - The one who nearly got away
