Escape Of The Birdmen Poster Original Daybill 1971 Doug McClure
Daybill Poster.Escape of the Birdmen also known as ‘The Birdmen’ and ‘Colditz: Escape of the Birdmen’, is a 1971 television film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Doug McClure, Chuck Connors, Richard Baseheart and Tom Skerritt.Although a TV film in the USA, it was released theatrically overseas and thus posters and lobby cards were printed and are now sort after. The storyline is below and is based on actual events.
During World War II, US soldier Harry Cook and his team are sent to Norway to aid in the defection of Halden Brevik, a scientist working on the atomic bomb for the Germans. Captured by the Germans and sent to Colditz,Cook must find a way to escape with the scientist before the Gestapo discovers the Norwegian's true identity.The prisoners pin their hopes for freedom on a homemade glider, ingeniously designed and built by the prisoners inside the walls of the fortress! The film appeared on the ABC Movie of the Week on September 18, 1971. As mentioned, the story is loosely based on the true story where allied prisoners-of-war held at Colditz Castle, constructed a similar glider christened the Colditz Cock (under the noses of their captors) but did not complete the aircraft until after D-Day. Rather than use the glider to escape, the prisoners were determined to use it to coordinate their actions with Patton's forces. As it turned out, the German garrison surrendered to the Americans without firing a shot.In 2000 a full-sized replica of the glider was flown to discover if the plan would have worked which it did on its first attempt! Nearly a dozen of the veterans who had worked on the original over 55 years earlier attended.
