Gordon Moulton-Barrett: Farewell To Pilot Who Survived Infamous Wartime Prison Camp
A Second World War Lancaster bomber pilot who survived being shot down over Germany and was a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III has died aged 98.
Gordon Moulton-Barrett served as a Flight Lieutenant with No 207 Squadron, and flew 17 sorties before his aircraft was shot down during a Berlin bombing raid on Christmas Eve, 1943.
After being captured and interrogated by the Luftwaffe, he was sent to the notorious Stalag Luft III camp, where he was imprisoned until the end of the war.
In his memoirs, held in the Imperial War Museum’s archives, Gordon wrote about the camp’s appalling conditions, and described fellow prisoners’ reactions to the execution of the Allied airmen captured during their attempted ‘Great Escape’. After the war, Gordon, originally from Southampton, joined RAF Transport Command and flew Avro Yorks between the UK and Singapore. He later worked as a pilot and test pilot for civil airlines – work that took him all over the world and led him to relocate to the USA.
Highlights of his civilian career included transporting supplies of the Salk polio vaccine between India and New York, and flying US troops and equipment to the front lines of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
One of his final roles before retirement was as a captain for Japan Airlines, with his routes including Tokyo to Hawaii, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He also flew the Polar route to many European cities from Anchorage, Alaska.
In 2019, Gordon published a Kindle book, Main Force, with the aim of informing young adults about the experiences of RAF bomber pilots during the Second World War.
Gordon died in a Florida hospice late last month, and his funeral was held recently in Oakland, California.
The RAF Association sends its condolences to Gordon’s family and friends.
