2803 Royal Air Forces aircrew who were shot down during WWII either escaped from captivity or, in the majority of cases, evaded capture.

For many their eventual return to Allied territory was by clandestine means.

In evading or escaping they forced the enemy to devote scarce resources to finding them. They also gave heart to the Allied Forces operating over enemy territory - aircrew knew it was possible to get back.

Thousands of brave, ordinary people in the Occupied countries took extraordinary risks at huge cost to help these airmen.

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13 Oct 2007 Dédée de Jongh - Comète Line founder - died in Brussels see Obits page for main obituaries & short BBC broadcast
Comète Reunion sermon Sunday 21 Oct 2007, Brussels

On behalf of our American friends we hosted an Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society page
launched in 2004. This has been succeeded by their own website http://www.airforceescape.com/

MI 9 was set up to provide training in escape and evasion, coordinate escape lines and  provide and devise materials - such as escape kits - to help valuable aircrew to get back.

Escapers and evaders were almost always reliant on the goodwill of ordinary people - extraordinarily brave people - in the countries under Fascist control. 

These helpers risked torture and death for the help they gave and their families faced deportation to concentration camps.  Many thousands suffered because they aided Allied aircrew.

A number of organisations operated to guide and shelter evaders and escapers on their journeys to freedom, the best known of which were the Pat O'Leary Line (see website) from the North of France to Marseilles and the Comète Line from Belgium to the Pyrenees.