Magic at War

*** COMING SOON - FROM THE MAGIC AT WAR TEAM *** The Colditz Conjurer  tells the amazing true story of Flight Lieutenant Vincent ‘Bush’ Parker. A school-boy magician from the Australian outback,  ‘ Bush ’  left home to become an assistant to a master illusionist. With World War Two looming, he gave up this promising career to train as a Spitfire pilot.   One of Churchill ’ s  ‘ Few, ’  he fought in the Battle of Britain until he was shot down in a dramatic dogfight. As a prisoner-of-war in Germany, Vince Parker earned a reputation as a persistent escaper. He ended up in the infamous Colditz Castle, a high-security fortress from which the Germans thought escape was impossible. In the footlights of the castle ’ s theatre, this charismatic officer used his magic skills to boost the morale of his fellow prisoners. But, behind locked doors, he applied the secrets of stage magic and escapology to the real-life challenge of getting back home. A remarkable tale of ...

Part 2 of a three-part blog telling the compelling story of John Casson, magician, navy pilot, and Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war. His part in The Great Escape and how magic and performing helped him and others survive captivity. In this part, we look at Casson's capture and his time at Dulag Luft (Oberursel), where he  becomes  a coder and where the origins of  the Great Escape  were laid ... A failed attack and a downed aircraft On 14 June 1940, the British attacked the German warship   Scharnhorst  from the air . The attack failed. There were too few Skuas dive-bombers, with too little cover, facing too much opposition and with inadequate coordination.  The event came to be known as Black Thursday, one of the most disastrous days in the Fleet Air Arm's history. Only seven of fifteen aircraft made it back . The fate of the leading aircraft, flown by Lieutenant Commander John Casson, was in doubt. "When seven out of our aircraft had managed to g...