F-86F

Today there was a surprise. The arrival of an F-86F Sabre jet during the B-25 Invitational. One of 13 flying today, it will be at the museum for 2 weeks before heading off to an air show.

Learned some more about one of the B-25 Doolittle Raiders today. He (Tom Griffin) mentioned yesterday that he'd been captured by the Germans later in the war and rode out the rest of WWII in a German POW camp. Today he expanded on that by telling us that he was in Stalag Luft III, site of the Great Escape. He participated in the digging of the tunnels, hauling out dirt in sacks hidden in his pants, closed with a string that he would pull to let the dirt out while walking in the yard. He also told of an escape where they made some copies of German uniforms and fake guns, then led 30 prisoners right out the front gate. I think this Stalag was the basis for the series Hogan's Heroes. Tom Griffin said it wasn't too difficult to fool the Germans at this camp.