Career
Calnan was commissioned in the Royal Air Force on 19 December 1936. 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 Royal Air Force"s Number.
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."
He was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 January 1949, and retired on 14 February 1959.
