LIVES – SYDNEY HASTINGS DOWSE
Researched and written by David Anthony Cockle and Christopher John Hogger.
Sydney Hastings Dowse was a highly regarded RAF pilot in the early period of the second world war, specialising in photographic reconnaissance. After being shot down over France in 1941 and captured by the Germans, he achieved particular renown from the daring escapes he and others made as prisoners of war, including the ‘Great Escape’ from the Stalag Luft III prison camp. Nearly two decades after the war he came to live in Effingham, in Leewood Way, where he remained for at least five years.
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The film maker Jonathan Ruffle interviewed Sydney and his fellow escaper ‘Jimmy’ James in the mid-2000s and intends to produce a full-length documentary about the ‘Great Escapers’. Some short extracts from his filmed interviews with them can be viewed below on the GB Films website.
