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 The "Colditz Cock" - Escape or Suicide?

Colditz Castle was originally built in 1014 as a hunting lodge for the kings of Saxony and throughout its history, it has been the centre of war and siege, and thus rebuilt many times. The castle was completely destroyed in the 15th century during the Hussite wars and was then rebuilt and given as a wedding present to a Danish Princess in 1583. In 1634 Imperialists captured the castle only to lose it again to Sweden in 1706. Its role then changed to a prison in 1800 and then a hospital for the mentally ill in 1828. The castle continued as a hospital for over 100 years, until it came to be used as a prisoner of war centre during the Second World War.
RAF prisoners recaptured after escaping from other POW camps were transferred to Colditz Castle which was thought to be escape proof or supermaximum POW prison, it was apparently the only German POW camp that had more guards than prisoners. Despite this, the British officers who felt that it was their duty to escape continued to tunnel, jump, and sneak their way out of "The Colditz Escape Academy" in surprising numbers.
Having so many experienced escapers all in one place turned out to be a questionable idea but as time went by the conventional avenues of escape were sealed off by the Germans, tunneling became all but impossible with the installation of sophisticated sound monitors. Towards the end of the war in Europe, British officers held captive in Colditz Castle during WWII constructed a glider to be launched from the rooftop of the castle used to imprison them.
The prisoners refused to accept the idea that Colditz was inescapable. In the early parts of 1945 some POW's managed to escape by ever riskier routes, such as by being catapulted out of high windows.  Even one "home run" raised morale considerably among the remaining prisoners. It was about this time that Colditz "Heavy Industries Inc." was founded, to design and build a glider.
The idea of building a glider was hatched by Navy Lieutenant Tony Rolt and others. Rolt wasn't even an airman, but he noticed the chapel roof line was completely obscured from German view and he convinced Bill Goldfinch to draft up some plans for a glider. A catapult made up of a concrete filled bathtub plunging five stories and then crashing into the floor was thought to be needed for launch. Hundreds of ribs had to be constructed, from bed slats and every other piece of wood the POW's could get. The wing spars were constructed from floor boards and control wires fabricated from electrical wire stolen from unused portions of the castle.
Lorne Welch was one of the prisoners and he was a gliding expert. He was asked to have a look at the stress diagrams and aerodynamic calculations made by Goldfinch. Fellow prisoners then built a false wall in the attic of one of the buildings and a proper workshop was constructed behind it. The Germans were accustomed to looking down, for tunnels, not up, for gliders or secret workshops. No less than 12 primary lookouts or "stooges" and an electric alarm system was used to warn the builders of approaching guards when silence and work stoppages were required.
The glider constructed was a two-piece, high wing design which resembles the popular Schweizer 2-33 in many aspects. It has a Mooney style rudder and square elevators and tip to tip the wingspan was 32'.
Prison sleeping bags of blue and white checked cotton were used to skin the glider, and German ration millet was boiled and used to dope the fabric. The take-off was scheduled for the spring of 1945 during an air raid blackout but by then the Allied guns were already rumbling in the distance and the war's outcome fairly certain.
The British escape officer decided that the launch should be delayed in case the SS ordered the massacre of the prisoners as a way to get a message out to approaching American troops. Previous instructions from Britain had already called for a halt to all escape efforts, since by this time the Germans had begun shooting escapees on the spot.
Following the peaceful turnover of the camp from the Kommandant to the Senior British Officer word of the glider's existence was put out. The glider was assembled and put on display for the prisoners and liberating American GI's.
Dozens of prisoners had helped in its construction, by building tools or parts for the glider, or by stooging. An unnamed GI took the only photo of the glider known to exist, shown here, the "Colditz Cock" was then disassembled and lifted back into it's hiding place at war's end.
The glider disappeared from it's hiding place sometime after the war ended, it's ultimate fate unknown. During later visits to Colditz the survivors heard rumors to the effect the glider had been burned. One story was that it was broken into firewood during the brutal winter of 1945-6, a time during which many Germans and Russians (Colditz came to be used as a hospital for Russian officers) either froze or starved to death.
Another story was that villagers felt "disgraced" by it's presence and publicly torched it. The truth will probably never be known, unless some of the Russians soldiers who occupied the town immediately after the war come forward.
Virtually everyone (including gliding experts, people who have built and flown models of the glider and the participants themselves) is convinced the Colditz Glider was airworthy and would have flown two prisoners outside of the camp's walls. Engineers at De Havilland aircraft reviewed the glider plans after the war and agreed. While it never actually flew the Colditz Glider successfully lifted the spirits of everyone involved. 
Many of the prisoners who built the "Cock" lived for over 50 years after being liberated from Colditz Castle wondering... would their glider have flown? A true replica was built and there it was in front of them... flying.
Kenneth Lockwood, the secretary of the Colditz Association (a survivors’ group) said: “If all went well the glider would soar for about a mile from a height of about 100 feet down over the town of Colditz, over farmland and finally over the River Mulde, landing on the far side of the river.”
“The key thing was to cross the river,” Mr. Lockwood said. “If they could clear that they could reach a nearby railroad station, board a train and make it to Switzerland, which was neutral.” 
Jack Best, who led the operation to build the glider, together with Bill Goldfinch, who designed it, said: “We made it out of anything we could find wooden floorboards and bedsheets. We didn’t beg or borrow we just pinched it. It was built right up in the highest portion of the castle and we were going to launch it by pushing it over the end of the roof".

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