Thomas D. Calnan Explained

Thomas Daniel Calnan
Birth Date:16 December 1915
Death Place:Zinal, Switzerland
Serviceyears:1936–1959
Rank:Wing Commander
Battles:World War II

Thomas Daniel Calnan (16 December 1915 – 13 September 1981) was an English pilot and prisoner-of-war of World War II, who wrote a memoir of his time in German captivity entitled Free As A Running Fox.

Calnan was commissioned in the RAF on 19 December 1936.[1]

Calnan was shot down while flying a Spitfire on a photo-reconnaissance mission over France in December 1941. He gives some brief background about himself and his flying career with the RAF's No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, but devotes most of the book to his escape attempts while a prisoner of the Germans. He was incarcerated at Stalag Luft III during the period of the "Great Escape."[2]

He was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 January 1949, and retired on 14 February 1959.[1] Calnan latterly lived in Zinal, Switzerland,[3] where he died in September 1981 at the age of 65.[4]

Notes and References

  1. The Royal Air Force Retired List (1976)
  2. Book: Calnan . T.D. . Free As a Running Fox . January 1970 . . 978-0803727496.
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=Hi-xCwAAQBAJ&dq=thomas+daniel+calnan+switzerland&pg=PA189 Writers Directory: CALNAN, Daniel Thomas
  4. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/46452_B294358-00169?pid=22635233&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1904%26h%3D22635233%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DOzZ4868%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=OzZ4868&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true Ancestry: Thomas Daniel Calnan in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995