Flight of Hurricane II Z3339 and Pilot Officer Norman Maxwell \"Max\" Dunn on 1941-06-16

Hi Gerard,

Thank you so much for your post.

Norman Maxwell Dunn is my grandfather and I would love to make contact with you to understand how you knew him and if you have other photos or stories to share.

Please email me to chat ?

Kind Regards,
Tammy

The pilot was Norman Maxwell "Max" Dunn. B 19/6/1916, D 5/6/1999 (aged 83) He was born in Mudgee NSW and enlisted in the RAAF in April 1940 (Service No. 402050). He was in the first group of Australian EATS pilots to arrive in the UK in October 1940 and was posted to 258 Sqn RAF which was formed shortly afterwards. He was gazetted as a Pilot Officer on 19/11/1940 and promoted to Flying Officer 0n 10/6/1941. On 16 June 1941 he was flying Hurricane IIb Z3339 / ZT-B on circus 13 when he was shot down over the English Channel. He was the 64th claim of Adolph Galland. After spending 17 hours in the channel waters he was taken prisoner by a German U-Boat on 17 June and thence transferred to via a number of POW camps to LuftStalag III. He was a tunneller for both of the "great escapes" but he was not selected in the lottery to be part of either escape. With the other POW's he was marched west as the Soviets advanced before being liberated by British troops on May 2 1945 and being repatriated to the UK. He was discharged from the RAAF on 27/9/145 and returned to Australia where he married Barbara Jean Paton and had 3 children. He went on to become a highly respected chartered accountant and businessman as well as publishing a volume of his wartime poems in 1981.