WINGS DAY

Inscribed, signed and dated on the title page by H.M.A ‘Wings’ Day

RC Brignall, ex RM
“Wings”
HMA Day   Gp Capt
(RM undecipherable)
13/12/70

Collins First Edition, 2nd impression, October 1968.  252 pages plus photographs.

Near Fine condition hardback book in a Very Good unclipped dustjacket which has been neatly Fabloned . Clean and bright, it comes with a Daily Telegraph obituary of Day from 1977.

Harry Day was brought up in the traditions of the Royal Marines in which he served from 1916 to 1924 when he learnt to fly and transferred to the RAF. Day became a fighter pilot renowned for his formation aerobatic displays at the Hendon air shows.  He was also Douglas Bader’s flight commander.  In October 1939, by now a Wing Commander, he was shot down over Germany in a Blenheim and was taken prisoner.

As a POW he was Senior British Officer in a number of different camps and a noted escaper. In May 1941 he and 17 others tunnelled out of a camp and for five days he was at liberty before being recaptured. In March 1942 he moved to Stalag Luft III at Sagan where he made a second escape attempt using a forged interpreter’s pass. While in solitary confinement after that escape he tried a third escape but was again recaptured. In October 1942 he was sent to Oflag XXIB at Schubin but returned later to Sagan where in March 1943 he and 35 others tunnelled out. This time Day headed east to Poland, hoping to get on a ship to Sweden. He was recaptured and sent back to Sagan.

In March 1944 Wings took part in The Great Escape where he was number 38 out of the tunnel. He once again made his way to Stettin and once again was arrested. After interrogation by the Gestapo he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from where he managed another escape. After another visit to Gestapo headquarters he was sent to the concentration camp at Flossenburg, where he remained until April 1945. He made one final escape attempt in the final weeks of the war and this time made it to the Allied lines.

For his services while a prisoner he was awarded the DSO and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Harry Day died in Malta on 2nd Dec 1977, aged 79.

One of the classic POW Escaper books and this is a collectable signed copy which has a Royal Marine connection.