Theft of German aircraft

To: B.B.C. Wartime Memories,

From: B A Renwick, 43 Sands Lane, Bridlington, East Yorks. YO15 2JG Tel. 01262 672930

My wife and I stay every year with our friends Bernard and Roselyne Vidal (aged about 80) in Bridlington’s twin town Millau in the south of France.

Bernard Vidal told us that a friend stole a German aircraft during the war and flew to England with a companion. He gave us a copy of a picture his friend had given him (or his parents) with a note which reads (in translation):

From 1934 Gabriel and Marie Louise VIDAL ran a business (wine, coal and a hotel) in Paris (18th arrondissement) at 1 and 3 Passage du Poteau. Among their friends was Marcel FLOREIN, a keen aviator who lived in the same building. They secretly helped Marcel and
Jo KLEIN to escape to England. It was in the morning of the 10th December 1941. The plan worked perfectly. They landed at DUNGENESS as planned. This extraordinary exploit was disclosed by Marcel FLOREIN in 1958 after the return of General de Gaulle as president af France.

Few people know of this wartime exploit which is why I have given this to my friends Margaret and Brian RENWICK.

The inscription on the drawing of the aircraft reads:

To my fiends Vidal
this souvenir of the crossing
of the Channel from a veteran
of the Passage du Poterau.

Marcel Florein

If the B.B.C. can trace any record of the landing at Dungeness I would be grateful to have details.

B Renwick

P.S. Regret picture would not load.

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