The ‘Millionaires’ Mob’ that introduced the brainchild behind the Great Escape to military aviation.
THE anniversary of the Great Escape is traditionally marked by a ceremony in Poland, the Stalag Luft III prison camp located near the town of Zagan was the location from where 76 airmen tunnelled out in a daring break that was the basis for the 1963 Hollywood film.
The mass exodus of prisoners from a number of allied countries on the evening of March 24, 1944, was first conceived 12 months earlier, the mastermind of the operation, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, or ‘Big X’ as he was known, the man in charge of the prison’s Escape Committee.
The intervention of Hollywood less than 20 years after the escape helped turn the episode into folklore, however, of the 76 who made it out, only three evaded recapture (two Norwegian pilots and one Dutch airman), the majority of those rounded up not even making it back to the prison camp. There were 20 British airmen among the 50 murdered on the orders of Aldolf Hitler, among them Squadron Leader Bushell.
Bushell was born in South Africa in 1910, the son of an English mining engineer, but had his schooling in England from the age of 10, fulfilling his wish to fly by joining the RAF in 1932, but not just any squadron – No. 601, or as it was better known back then, ‘The Millionaires’ Mob’.
No. 601 was formed in October 1925 at RAF Northolt by a group of wealthy aristocrats who decided to form themselves into a Reserve Squadron of the RAF after a ‘meeting’ at Whites in Mayfair, one of London’s oldest, and most exclusive, gentlemen’s clubs. Officers for the new squadron were selected by the unit’s first commanding officer, Lord Edward Grosvenor, the squadron history noting that he ‘… chose his officers from among gentlemen of sufficient presence not to be overawed by him, and sufficient means not to be excluded from his favourite pastimes – eating, drinking and Whites’.
Members of the Millionaires' club
Grosvenor tested potential recruits with a drinking session on vintage port to see if their behaviour under the influence was deemed inappropriate and unsuitable for his team. Most of the recruits for the new squadron were not interested in the discipline associated with the regular service, and uniforms included bright red silk linings, with blue ties worn instead of the usual black.
Most of the pilots owned their own aircraft and in 1940 the squadron became a day fighter force, operating Spitfires and Hurricanes. The rigours of war saw their ‘millionaires’ tag soon dispensed with, as replacements for the members killed or injured came from all walks of life, and from across the globe.
But despite the original members coming from the ‘higher’ echelons of society, they proved themselves time and again in battle, honours including at Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, and El Alamein. During the summer of 1940, when the future of Britain appeared to hang in the balance, the squadron claimed more than 100 victories, but also suffered major losses.
The squadron was reformed in 1946, again as a fighter squadron, within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), still operating Spitfires, but they were soon dispensed with as the unit received its first jets, the De Havilland Vampire and the Gloster Meteor. Among the commanding officers was Max Aitken, who had two spells in charge of 601, during the Battle of Britain, and post war when he combined his RAF duties with his role as the MP for Holborn, and as director of the Express Group of newspapers, his father being Lord Beaverbrook.
While Aitken would have fallen into the ‘Millionaires’ Mob’ category, he was no fool in the cockpit, rising from pilot officer to lead the unit, a Flying Ace recording 16 victories and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, DFC, in 1940.
Defence cuts in the late 1950s saw the squadron disbanded in 1957, by which point not a single member appeared to fall into the millionaire category. A 60-year hiatus followed, and it was April 2017 when 601 was reformed as a non-flying unit, a Specialist Support Squadron of the RAuxAF, providing specialist industry and business support to the Air Staff.
The aim of the current iteration of the unit is to establish links between the RAF and the business sector, with many of today’s members industry figures who bring their professional experience and background to help deliver its three core principles: advice, access and advocacy.
But 601 will always be known as “The Millionaires, Squadron” and Squadron Leader Bushell one of its best-known members, the accomplished pilot possessing several other skills including skier and barrister.
Soon after the outbreak of WWII, Bushell was given command of No. 92 Squadron, but that role effectively ended in May 1940 when his Spitfire was shot down while flying over enemy territory during the Dunkirk evacuation – he survived but was captured by the Germans.
His time as a prisoner of war was marked by the escapes he helped organise, and those he himself was involved in, culminating in the mass breakout from Stalag Luft III.
Aerial photo of Stalag Luft III dated 1942–1945
Bushell was partnered in the escape with Bernard Scheidhauer, a French lieutenant who was part of No. 131 Squadron RAF, the two caught a day later at Saarbrücken railway station while waiting for a train to Alsace.
On March 29, 1944, the pair were told they were being driven to a prison camp, but near what is today Ramstein Air Base, in the rural district of Kaiserslautern, they were shot by Gestapo officers, acting under the direct orders of Hitler.
Bushell was just 33 when he was shot, his ashes and gravestone now at the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery in Poland, and in the film, The Great Escape, his role was played by Richard Attenborough. The film was based on the book by Paul Brickhill, an Australian fighter pilot who was himself involved in organising the escape, but whose claustrophobia prevented him from taking part.
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