The Airmen's Stories - P/O M M Shand

Michael Moray Shand was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 20th February 1915 and attended Nelson College from 1929 to 1932. In early 1939 he applied for a short service commission in the RNZAF and was provisionally accepted in July.

Shand reported to the Ground Training School at Weraroa on 19th November 1939, moving one month later to No. 1 EFTS Taieri.

In mid-February 1940 he was posted to No. 1 FTS Wigram and awarded his flying badge on 26th April. After completing the course in late May, Shand sailed for the UK in the RMS Rangitiki on 7th June, arriving on 20th July.

He went to No. 1 RAF Depot Uxbridge to await a posting. On 4th August he was posted to 7 OTU Hawarden. After converting to Spitfires he joined 54 Squadron on the 22nd.

Shand flew as Alan Deere's number 2 on his first operational sortie. He had flown 20 hours in Spitfires but had never fired its guns. On 25th August, his second sortie, he was shot down in Spitfire I R6969 over Dover by Me109s and made a forced-landing near Manston, badly wounded.

Taken at first to the Kent & Canterbury Hospital he was transferred to Horton Emergency Hospital, Epsom on 6th September and then on 16th October to the RAF Hospital at Halton.

After being discharged from hospital Shand was posted to RAF Exeter for Operations Room duties.

He returned to operations on 21st October 1941, when he joined 485 Squadron at Kenley In May 1942 he was appointed a Flight Commander and later awarded the DFC (gazetted 16th September 1942), having then completed sixty sorties over Northern France.

On 28th November Shand was leading six Spitfires on a low-level sweep across the Dutch coast, seeking targets of opportunity. They successfully attacked a tanker-barge on a canal and as they returned, Shand and Sergeant Tucker went down to shoot up a train. They were attacked by two Fw190s and Shand was shot down in Spitfire Vb EP595 and taken prisoner.

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He was held in Stalag Luft 3 at Sagan and Belaria. He took part in the Great Escape, being the last prisoner to emerge from the tunnel.

Shand and his fellow New Zealander S/Ldr. Leonard Trent (later VC*), planned to navigate on foot to Czechoslovakia in the hope of getting to Switzerland.

They had no great expectation of reaching England but they felt they "had to do something".

The two men moved down the tunnel "Harry" after midnight on 24th/25th March 1944. Delays meant that it was almost 5am when they reached the exit, which came out in the open a few yards from the woodline.

Shand was the 76th prisoner to emerge from the tunnel and was starting to run when a guard spotted Trent emerging.

He fired on Shand but the bullet passed over Shand's head as he dived into the woods.

He was on the run for almost four days, travelling at night and resting by day. The weather conditions were severe and he was finally caught by two railway workers as he was trying to board a freight train.

He was taken to Gorlitz Prison, where he found himself amongst fellow captured escapers. The Gestapo took most of them away but Shand was one of four who were collected by the Luftwaffe and returned to Sagan. Fifty of the others were shot by the Gestapo.

*Trent had been shot down leading a formation of eleven Lockheed Venturas of 487 Squadron on Ramrod 16 over Holland on 3rd May 1943. All were lost and 28 crew mwmbers were killed. He was awarded the VC after liberation for pressing on alone to bomb the target.

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Shand was released from the camp in early May 1945 and returned to New Zealand on 23rd September.

He went on to the Reserve on 10th April 1946 and then took up farming at Wairarapa, in the south-east of North Island. He retired in 1978.

Shand died on 20th December 2007.