Lieutenant Commander John Casson was flying a Blackburn Skua for the Fleet Air Arm when he was shot down attacking the German battleship Scharnhorst in July 1940. The famous Great Escaper Peter Fanshawe was flying as his navigator at the time. John Casson was captured and became one of the first officers to create an executive escape commitee with ‘Wings’ Day and Roger Bushell (Big X). In Stalag Luft 3 during the period of the Great Escape John Casson became codemaster for MI9 and also acted in the camp theatre alongside Peter Butterworth of ‘Carry On’ fame. On this bookplate John Casson’s rare signature has been mounted on recycled sepia card, underneath an original pencil drawing of his POW record card portrait by Steve Teasdale.
John Casson is mentioned a number of times in Anton Gill’s book on The Great Escape. This is a very uncommon signature linked to the Great Escape. The bookplate is roughly 20x14 in size and is ideal to fit in Paul Brickhill’s Book and many others.