SHAND Michael Moray Fl Lt 485 Sqn

From Ailsa Lobb’s Autograph Book 1942 to 1945 .

                        BATTLE OF BRITAIN 
                    Fl/Lt Michael Moray Shand
                            NZ 391368

Michael Moray Shand was born in Wellington, New Zealand on the 20th Feb 1915. He was a Battle of Britain pilot with 54 sqn flying Spitfires having joined the sqn on the 24th August with only 20 hours flying experience and no combat training. His first sortie was as a wingman to the outstanding New Zealand ace Al Deere. On 25th August 1940, he was shot down in Spitfire IR6969 over Dover by an ME109 and made a forced landing near Manston; badly wounded. After several months in hospital, Michael was posted to RAF Exeter for Operations Duties. It was while there that he was billeted at the George and Dragon Inn. Ailsa Loaring
(Lobb) remembers him coming down stairs one morning only wrapped in an eiderdown which he inadvertently trod on leaving him in the all together. Oh la la.
He returned to operations on the 21st October 1941 with 485 (NZ) Sqn. He was appointed Flt/Commander in May 1942. He and his pilots provided withdrawal cover during Operation Jubilee and the raid on Dieppe. By September 1942, he had flown 60 ops over France and was awarded the DFC; the citation described him as “a skilful pilot and fearless leader”. On 28th November, Michael led a formation of six Spitfires on a low level sweep of the Dutch Coast. They successfully attacked a tanker-barge on a canal and his wingman went down to shoot up a train. Two Focke-Wulf 190s attacked them. He was shot down and quickly captured. Within a few weeks he arrived at Stalag Luft 111, 100 miles SE of Berlin.
He was part of the “Great Escape” and was the last to emerge from the tunnel before it was discovered. Michael Shand and fellow escapee Group Captain Len Trent VC planned to get to Switzerland. The two men moved down the 100 metre tunnel, codenamed Harry just after midnight on the 24/25 March 1944. Mike Shand was the 76th prisoner to emerge from the tunnel and was running across the dead ground to the woods when a patrolling guard spotted Trent emerging. Mike Shand was recaptured after 4 days on the run. He remained at Stalag Luft 111 until he was evacuated in Jan 1945. The POWs were forced to march westwards in the hardest winter for years. In May 1945, he was liberated and returned to England before going home to New Zealand in Sept 1945. Mike always considered himself fortunate to survive the Great Escape in which three of his fellow New Zealanders were killed. After the war he farmed at Wairarapa, on the North Island until 1978 and died on 20th Dec 2007 aged 92.

Ailsa kept this newspaper article and Mike Shand is marked by the X. Ailsa asked him to sign the paper but sadly this has been lost. Fl/Lt M Shand billeted at the St George and Dragon Inn