Great Escape 2

Lest we forget...

This year our good friend, Peter Spowage, has kindly shared his Great Escape replica motorcycle with us to showcase in our Remembrance Day window display. He took this bike on an amazing journey throughout Europe to support the Help for Heroes charity & the Royal British Legion charity. You can find out all about his epic trip which paid tribute to the lives of the men who inspired the famous wartime film, The Great Escape. 

He also shared his dad's perfectly kept RAF tunic, which really is something special to see.

Stop by to our Hart Street store to check out our display and SCROLL DOWN to find out more about Peter's "Great Escape 2" trip and his heroic father, Flight Lieutenant W. F. Spowage DFC.

Great Escape 2

In 2011, our good friend Peter, took to the road on a motorcycle trip he had organised to raise money for the Help for Heroes & the Royal British Legion charities. But this wasn’t just any trip. It was a special and highly emotional trip he took with a fantastic team of military men, including men from the RAF and Full Service Personnel, which took them 3,500 miles around Europe, paying tribute to the lives of the men who inspired the famous wartime film, the Great Escape. 

This trip was personal for all riders for different reasons, and members of the team included the last ever prisoner of war from the RAF, who was taken prisoner in Iraq by Saddam Hussein - and Colin Kirby Green, son of Squadron Leader, Thomas Kirby Green, who was caught and murdered by the Gestapo during the Great Escape. 

When Peter told us here at Laguna Motorcycles about this trip, we thought it was a fantastic idea. We provided two custom bikes... a Steve McQueen Great Escape replica bike which you can see Peter's son (David) posing as Steve McQueen did in the photos above, licence plate 'WWII POW'! ...and a custom Triumph T100 model, named ‘GE2’, (Great Escape 2), which featured another licence plate, 'GE02 POW', which can also be seen in the photos above. (Peter now owns and still rides the GE2 bike today!) We also provided several Triumph Bonneville bikes which were similar to the one ridden by Steve McQueen in the famous film, The Great Escape.
 
The team began their journey at Biggin Hill and they went straight to Dover to then follow the Operation Market Garden route from the Belgian border to Arnhem in Holland. They stopped off at Barth on the Baltic coast of Germany where there was a prisoner of war camp, then went on to Berlin and then Poland - where the Great Escape took place. 

The group went to Colditz Castle near Leipzig in Germany where another infamous POW camp was located, then on to Ostrava in Czechoslovakia - the place where Colin’s father was last alive. It was a truly emotional part of the journey as Colin met local children who came to lay flowers where his father died each year, to remember his dad, which he wasn’t aware of. 

Following this, the team rode on to Berchtesgaden - Hitler’s ‘Eagle's Nest’, and then on to the field near Füssen - right on the Germany/Austrian border where Steve McQueen does his famous motorcycle jump! The team then crossed over to Italy to the Stelvio Pass, then travelled through Switzerland to Southern Germany. 

Throughout the entire 3-week journey the team stayed at various British Army & RAF bases and met many amazing military people and motorcyclists along the way. It was a journey of a lifetime. A highly emotional trip for a fantastic cause, which allowed the team to established many new relationships and lifelong friends. 

They raised an incredible £17,000 for the Help for Heroes charity & the Royal British Legion charity.

What a trip... one which we know Peter would love to do again!

RAF Tunic

Peter also lent us his dad's stunning RAF jacket, which has pride of place in our store window with his Great Escape replica bike.

Peter's dad was Flight Lieutenant W. F. Spowage DFC from 100 Squadron, and he can be seen pictured on the front of his aeroplane, Lancaster PA221, named 'Vergeltungswaffe', in 1944 in the photo above.

He was just 19 years old when he joined the RAF in 1940 and went to Canada to do his training. He became a flight instructor and trained SOE pilots who dropped spies into France! Following this he became a Mosquito Pilot on photo reconnaissance, flying with just a camera - no gun... so he relied purely on speed and skill to fly and survive. In 1944 he then joined the Bomber Command, joining 100 Squadron who had crew but no pilot. He named his plane 'Vergeltungswaffe' - after the V2 German designed rocket, which Hitler called his vengeance weapon! It was the only German named aircraft in the RAF bomber command.

Peter remained in touch with all of the crew members until none remained. 

Remembrance Sunday - 14th November

Join us on Remembrance Sunday for 2 minutes of silence to remember those who bravely gave their lives for their country.