Pete Tunstall: Difference between revisions
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Tunstall was born in [[Chadwell St Mary]], [[Essex]], in 1918 and moved to the nearby village of [[Orsett]] at the age of three. He took his first flight from a local field. He joined the [[RAF]] before the war and eventually became a [[Handley Page Hampden|Hampden]] pilot. |
Tunstall was born in [[Chadwell St Mary]], [[Essex]], in 1918 and moved to the nearby village of [[Orsett]] at the age of three. He took his first flight from a local field. He joined the [[RAF]] before the war and eventually became a [[Handley Page Hampden|Hampden]] pilot. |
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Revision as of 20:25, 29 July 2013
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Peter Tunstall (1 December 1918 – 27 July 2013)[1] was a flight Lieutenant for the Royal Air Force. During World War II he was a POW.
As a POW, Tunstall escaped four times. His escape from Spangenberg Castle with Eustace Newborn and Dominic Bruce has been recognised as one of the best ever. He was court martialed by the Germans five times and spent 415 days in solitary confinement, in both cases more than any other British POW.
Tunstall also developed a method of getting information home inside a photograph. At the end of the war, he was recommended for an award by MI9. However, the last senior British officer in Colditz declined to support this award, a decision attributed to a severe clash of personalities. Thus Tunstall, who the Germans considered a master trouble maker whom they once tried to shoot, ended the war unrecognised by the RAF.
Tunstall disputes some of the stories about Colditz. He did work with Escape Officers to cause diversions when an escape was 'on'. He did pull stunts and spoil roll calls at other times, otherwise the Germans would have known an escape was being covered up. However, he disputes that POWs threw 'excrement' bombs or blew 'raspberries' at the Germans. Nor does he know of anyone who did such things.
After the war, Tunstall continued to serve in the RAF until 1958. Upon retirement, he moved with his family to Africa. There he did many things from bush pilot to professional actor. Tunstall is currently living in South Africa and writing his autobiography.
Tunstall was born in Chadwell St Mary, Essex, in 1918 and moved to the nearby village of Orsett at the age of three. He took his first flight from a local field. He joined the RAF before the war and eventually became a Hampden pilot.