In late 1944 the pow\'s built a two man glider in the attic of one wing of the castle. It was to be slung out of the roof and land on the banks of the mulder river.
It was built out of anything that could be requisitioned and looked quite impressive. The closing chapters of the war meant that though complete the glider was never used.
Though there are accounts of the glider being on display it disappeared without a trace.
The Colditz Glider was reproduced some 55 years later with the aid of the original pow engineers and finally tested at RAF Odiham. A program was released in 2000 on its flight. This replica is in a museum in Norfolk.
A full size replica of the glider was built by a german aircraft engineer Herr Stelzer in buildings adjacent to the Flugwelt museum next to Leipzig-Altenburg airport.
It is of extremely high build quality and is a credit to its constructor.
This replica never got off the ground as the weather conditions were not favourable, and is now on display in Berlin.
Another replica was built and successfully flown in 2012 and a program was made of this venture by Windfall. There are also links to video clips of the flight below. This replica is in the loft of Colditz Castle and is to be displayed there to the public.
For an account and picture gallery of the glider flight (in German only) click on the link below:
