Peterborough motorcyclists to take on epic ‘Great Escape’ challenge across Europe to raise funds for RAF charity

A group of motorcyclists from across our region are preparing to undertake an epic journey which will see them pay homage to one of the Second World War’s most memorable events.

Dubbed ‘The Great Escape’, the epic challenge will see eight friends from Peterborough and Lincolnshire ‘breakout’ from the site of the former Stalag Luft III Prisoners of War (POW) camp in Poland to the North Sea - in a single day.

Terry Jones, from Newborough, is the man who came up with the idea for the scheme and consequently “talked/bullied/blackmailed the others into it.”

“We’ve got a rag-tag group of bikers in a little club and we try to do something for charity every year,” he said.

Terry explained that even though the club is actually called the Amateur Society of Biking Officers (ASBO), only about two third of the members have a military connection.

“The one thing we have in common is that we all love bikes.”The aim of the group’s endeavour is two-fold: to raise funds for the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA), and to remember the 50 allied POWs who took part in the famed breakout and didn't make it home.

Full-time RAF reservist Terry said he hoped the ambitious endeavour would be “something people could get onboard with.”

“It’s a little bit of fun, but there’s a serious message behind it.”

The group will initially ride from the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, Lincolnshire to Zagan, Poland days before their ‘escape’ begins.

There they will join an Act of Remembrance at the exit of Tunnel ‘Harry’ at the site of the former prison camp to honour the 50 Allied POWs who escaped but were subsequently executed by the Nazis after being recaptured.

While in Zagan, the riders will meet up with Squadron Leader (retired) Robert ‘Bob’ Ankerson.

As president of the Royal Air Forces ex-Prisoner of War Association, he has, Terry noted, been a “tremendous help with the fundraising effort for the Great Escape event.”

It is particularly poignant that Bob is helping with this project as he was captured and held by hostile forces when he was forced to eject from his Tornado GR1 jet fighter on a night raid during the First Gulf War.

Bob spent much of his time with the Iraqis in solitary confinement.

Following the commemorative service, the riders will embark on their own ‘breakout’ from Stalag Luft III, leaving ‘Harry’ at sunrise on 24 March to make the gruelling 12-hour, 560-mile ride to the Hook of Holland.

58-year-old Terry is under no illusions that the journey will be challenging:

“There’s no doubt we’ll be sore at the end of it,” he said, “but as long as we take plenty of breaks we should be fine.”

All being well, the eight friends will arrive before sunset, just in time to catch the ferry home to Blighty and return to RAF College Cranwell – where Terry is a flying instructor – the following day (March 25).

The real Great Escape took place on 24 March 1944, when 76 Allied POWs escaped from Stalag Luft III by tunnelling under the wire.

The ingenious POW’s – many of them airmen in the RAF – used one of three tunnels they had dug, which they nicknamed ‘Tom’, ‘Dick and ‘Harry.’

The escape was initially a success, with 76 prisoners using ‘Harry’ to escape into the night of Nazi occupied Poland.

However, the Nazis succeeded in rounding up 73 escapees: 50 of whom were executed in cold blood.

The tale of the Great Escape was immortalised in Paul Brickhill’s 1950 book of the same name.

This was then turned into a hugely successful film in which Steve McQueen’s character, Captain Virgil Hilts, delivers one of cinema’s iconic motorcycle scenes, spectacularly jumping over Nazi barbed wire defences on the German-Austrian border.

Unsurprisingly, Terry is a big fan:

“It was a brilliant movie; it really captured the spirit of what happened,” he said, adding “although there were a lot of factual inaccuracies.”

Terry hopes that, with public support, he and his group of great escapers will be able to raise £5,000 for the Royal Air Forces Association.

Anyone who wishes to contribute to the campaign can do so by visiting the group’s JustGiving page.

More information about the team and their epic journey can be found on the Great Escape 2024 Facebook page.