Escaped Allied airmen and their former Group
 

Bonjour,

I would like to know exactly the texts (or directives ) :

1- which forbade Allied flyers (Americans or British ones) not to to incorporated in their former Fighter group (or Bomber group) after escaped capture and retuned to England.

Sometimes they change of theater of operations.

A second “MIA” could drive the flyer to be arrested and probably to give infos or names ...

2- When did this interdidction disappear ? It seems that somes airmen who escaped capture over France during Summer 1944 returned to their Group and still fught with their comrads : but when HQ accepted this change After D-Day ?


I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Philippe

Re: Escaped Allied airmen and their former Group
 

Dear Philippe,

The order to prevent aircrew who had escaped with the help of the Resistance was put in place by the RAF quite early in the war once various escape routes were established, such as those through France to Spain and Gibraltar. As you will appreciate the reason was to prevent the route becoming known to the enemy if an airman was unfortunate to be shot down twice in the same theatre of operations.

However in June & July 1944 there were several pilots who bailed out over France who returned to their unit to fly with them - either because they evaded back to the Allied Front Line without help from the Resistance or because the area in which they escaped was now in Allied hands and so the people who helped them were no longer in danger.