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The Colditz Cock

The Colditz Cock was a glider built by British prisoners of war for an escape attempt from Colditz Castle in Germany. The idea for the glider came from Lieutenant Tony Rolt. Rolt had noticed the chapel roof line was completely obscured from German view [and that it] would make a perfect launching point from which the glider could fly across the River Mulde, which was about 60 metres below.

Team leaders Bill Goldfinch and Jack Best were aided by their discovery in the prison library of “Aircraft Design”, a two-volume work which explained the necessary physics and engineering and included a detailed diagram of a wing section. They assembled the glider along with 12 “apostles” in the lower attic above the chapel.

A false wall was built to hide the secret space in the attic where they slowly built the glider from stolen pieces of wood. Since the Germans were accustomed to looking down for tunnels, not up for secret workshops, the officers felt quite safe from detection. Nevertheless, they placed many lookouts and created an electric alarm system to warn the builders of approaching guards.

Over thirty ribs had to be constructed, predominantly formed from bed slats, and every other piece of wood the POWs could surreptitiously obtain. The wing spars were constructed from floor boards. Control wires were made from electrical wiring in unused portions of the castle. The runway was to be constructed from tables and the glider was to be launched using a pulley system based on a falling metal bathtub full of concrete, using a gravity-assisted acceleration to 30 mph.

The take-off was scheduled for the spring of 1945 during an air raid blackout but by then the Allied guns could be heard and the war’s outcome was fairly certain. The British escape officer decided that the glider should be available for use in case the SS ordered the massacre of the prisoners as a way to get a message out to approaching American troops. The glider was approaching completion when the American Army liberated the camp on 16 April 1945.

The fate of the glider is not known as the castle was in the zone controlled by the Russians who did not co-operate with its reclamation. The only evidence of its completion was a photograph, said to have been taken by an American soldier.