Herbert Massey

Air Commodore Herbert Martin Massey, CBE, DSO, MC (19 January 1898 – 29 February 1976) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft III who authorised the "Great Escape".

Herbert Martin Massey
Born(1898-01-19)19 January 1898
Hilton, Derbyshire, England
Died29 February 1976(1976-02-29) (aged 78)
Barnstaple, Devon, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army (1915–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–50)
Years of service1915–1950
RankAir Commodore
Commands heldRAF Oakington (1942)
RAF Abingdon (1940–42)
No. 6 Squadron (1934–37)
Battles/warsFirst World War
Arab Revolt in Palestine
Second World War
AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross
Mentioned in Despatches (3)

Flying career

Massey entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 1915, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment in April 1916. He soon after underwent flying training, and was posted as a pilot to No. 16 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps from July. He was promoted temporary captain and made a flight commander in December 1916. On 4 February 1917, Massey was wounded and his observer killed when their aircraft was shot down by German ace Werner Voss.[1]

Transferring to the newly created Royal Air Force in 1918, Massey continued his military career through the interwar period. He commanded No. 6 Squadron in operations during the Arab Revolt in Palestine, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and was a station commander during the early years of the Second World War. He was officer commanding of No. 10 Operational Training Unit with temporary rank of group captain made permanent in 1942.

He was on a Short Stirling of No. 7 Squadron RAF during the second Thousand-bomber raid when it was shot down near the Dutch coast during a raid in night of 1/2 June 1942, and was captured by the Germans. Massey then became the Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft III, and authorised the "Great Escape".[2] Massey walked with a limp and had suffered severe wounds to the same leg in both wars. There would be no escape for him but as Senior British Officer, he had to know what was going on. Group Captain Massey had been a veteran escaper himself and had been in trouble with the Gestapo. His experience allowed him to offer sound advice to the X-Organisation.[3]

Due to ill-health he was repatriated to the UK in 1944.

Legacy
Massey's Blue Plaque at Hilton House Hotel, Hilton.

After Massey's death in 1976, a memorial service in his honour was held on 22 May 1976 at St Clement Danes Church.[4]

Massey was the basis for the character "Group Captain Ramsey" in the film The Great Escape (1963), played by actor James Donald.

Massey has been portrayed by Peter Dennis in the made-for-TV film The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988).

In 2016, a Blue Plaque was unveiled at the Hilton House Hotel where Massey was born, the first Blue Plaque in the village of Hilton.

References
  1. The Aerodrome Forum
  2. "Wartime Great Escape hero Herbert Martin Massey honoured at Hilton birthplace". Derby Telegraph. 5 December 2016.
  3. Gill, Anton (2002). The Great Escape. London: Review. p. 96. ISBN 9780755310388.
  4. "Memorial Services", The Times, 12 May 1976, p. 32.
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