It has been 80 years since ‘The Great Escape’ from Germany’s Stalag Luft III prison camp, immortalized in the movie starring Steve McQueen. This week, we dive into the story behind the Hollywood film, share the secrets of history's boldest breakouts, and reveal a few death-defying contemporary escapes. While many endeavors failed, a remarkable few tasted freedom.
The Great Escape (1963) is a thrilling tribute to the brave men who fled a German WWII POW camp but did you know there was not one, but two bold breakouts from the prison? The first involved a gymnastic vaulting horse. The second was meticulously orchestrated by Roger Bushell, codenamed Big X. We uncover the secrets of both heart-pounding plots.
Courage and cunning converge in our pick of the Top 15 Spy Escapes. These thrilling tales showcase the extraordinary lengths spies go to in the pursuit of freedom from Edward Snowden to the CIA’s race to the border with Cold War asset Ryszard Kukliński and Airey Neave's audacious breakout from high-security Colditz Castle prison.
Long before Q created 007’s cane gun, US and British gadget masters were hiding compasses in shirt buttons and radio parts in baseballs. Their goal was to help Allied soldiers escape or evade Nazi POW camps in WWII. The mission started with MI9’s ultra-secret program and quickly spread to the US and an ingenious Ohio engineer named Robley E. Winfrey, America’s Q.
Mexican drug lord El Chapo disappeared into a tunnel under a prison shower in 2015 - the second time he’d fled. For six months, Mexican Marines chased him down and finally pinpointed his location in a remote wilderness on the border between two Mexican states. Incredibly, it was a taco order that gave El Chapo away. Former FBI Agent Michael McGowan serves up the spicy details.
The legendary Västberga Swedish helicopter heist of 2009 ranks up there with the best of Hollywood’s movie plots. The daring robbers landed on the roof of a Stockholm cash depot in a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger. They smashed their way into the building, laid decoy bombs, and flew off with bags of cash while Swedish police raced behind in a private plane.
London was on a knife’s edge in 2023 when news broke that a British soldier facing espionage and terrorism charges was suspected in a London prison breakout. Daniel Khalife, 22, allegedly fled in a kitchen uniform and strapped himself to the underside of a food delivery truck. Khalife faces trial later this year with an intriguing question to be determined: is he really an Iranian spy or an innocent pawn in a larger game?
At SPY HQ you’ll explore hidden worlds, break codes, run surveillance and spot liars - while a system developed with MI6 experts reveals your personal spy role and profile.
