Page 18 - Victor Arnold

Sergeant Wilfred John Ball R.A.F.V.R was the crew’s air gunner and completed 26 operations with
49 Squadron. 24 operations with the Webster crew, 1 operation each with Pilot Officer N. C. Green
and Flying Officer C.R. Wright. Sergeant Ball was awarded the DFM in March 1943.

Sergeant T.W. Clarkson R.A.F.V.R was the crew’s flight engineer, posted in to the squadron in
August 1942 and completing his tour of operations in March 1943.

Flight Lieutenant Osborne R.A.F.V.R undertook four operations with the crew in April 1942 as a
Sergeant wireless operator. Posted in to the squadron in January 1942 and posted out in
October 1942.

Frederick Stanley Flight Lieutenant Frederick Copestake R.A.F.V.R was as a Sergeant a crew
member, posted into the squadron in April 1942 and posted out in March 1943 on completion of
his tour of operations. Having been rested and later commissioned he was posted to 617
th
Squadron. His Lancaster was shot down on the 24 April 1944 whilst undertaking operations
against Munich and he was taken prisoner. Frederick was imprisoned at Stalag Luft 3 near the
town of Sagan in Lower Silesia (now Zagan in Poland), 100 miles southeast of Berlin.

This camp was equipped with state of the art microphones embedded deep in the ground and built
upon sandy soil which would make tunnelling virtually impossible. In April and May 1942 the camp
was populated with PoW’s from all over Germany. The camp is best known for two famous
prisoner escapes by tunnelling. These were depicted in the films, "The Wooden Horse" (1950) and
"The Great Escape" (1963).

The films were adapted from the books of former prisoners Paul Brickhill and Eric Williams.

The "Wooden Horse" escape took place on the night of 29/30 October 1943 and all three
th
escapers made their "home run".

On the night of the 24/25th March 1944 the "Great Escape" took place with 76 PoW’s escaping
through "Tunnel Harry".
All were recaptured but, on Hitler's orders, 50 were murdered.

In January 1945, with the Russian advance closing in on Sagan, the PoW’s were to be given the
choice of remaining where they were or moving to a new location. However, Hitler decided that
they all should leave and do so on foot. They would walk to the railhead at Spremberg and then be
distributed by rail to several destinations. By 03:45hrs on January 28th 1945 the camp was
virtually deserted

Details curtesy 49 Squadron Association