Tributes have been paid to the last surviving member of the real-life Great Escape team after his death, aged 99.
Former squadron leader Dick Churchill was one of the 76-strong group who escaped from the Stalag Luft III camp in Germany in 1944. The site now stands in Poland.
Their feat of courage went on to represent one of the most told stories from the Second World War, immortalised in the 1963 Hollywood film starring Steve McQueen.
Mr Churchill, who lived in Crediton, Devon, died earlier this week.
Chief of the Air Staff Sir Stephen Hillier said: “On behalf of the RAF as a whole I would like to offer my condolences to the friends and family of Flt Lt Richard ‘Dick’ Churchill, one of the RAF personnel involved in the Great Escape. He was from a selfless generation who offered bravery and sacrifice to secure our freedom, he will be sorely missed. Per Ardua.”
