John Nunn

Wing Commander John Leslie Nunn, (11 April 1919 – 3 July 2013) was a British Royal Air Force (RAF) officer, mathematician, and politician. He served as an RAF pilot during the Second World War and, having been taken prisoner, was involved in The Great Escape. It was his miscalculations that caused the tunnel to be too short. This meant the escapees were visible to guards in the camp and only three men successfully escaped. He continued to serve in the RAF after the war specialising in navigation and intelligence. After retiring from the military he worked at IBM and as a Conservative Party councillor. He was Mayor of Winchester from 1992 to 1993.

Early life Nunn was born on 11 April 1919 in Finchley, Middlesex, England. He was educated at Mill Hill School, a private boys school in Mill Hill, north London. He went on to study maths and statistics at University College London. He graduated in 1939 gaining a Bachelor of Science (BSc).

Military career Nunn joined the University of London Air Squadron in 1938, when he was studying for his degree. It was gazetted on 3 December 1939 that he had been promoted to flying officer back dated to 3 October. He was posted to RAF Bomber Command and flew bombing sorties over German–occupied Europe. He then joined No. 97 Squadron RAF in July 1941, continuing to fly the Avro Manchester. He was appointed head of the mathematics faculty of Stalag Luft III's extensive educational programme. His assistance was sought by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, organiser of The Great Escape, to calculate precisely how long a tunnel should be to reach the woodland beyond the camp's perimeter wire. He used trigonometry to come to a figure as it could not be found using the usual method of pacing for fear the guards would discover their plans. However, the tunnel proved too short.

On 24 March 1944, when the break-out occurred, prisoners were spotted escaping as the tunnel ended in the open ground between the camp fence and the tree line. On 24 December 1946, it was gazetted that he had transferred to the Royal Air Force on a permanent commission. He retained his wartime rank of flight lieutenant dated to 1 September 1945. He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 August 1947. He specialised in navigation and intelligence during this period, He was posted to the Ministry of Defence's joint planning staff to assist in the creation of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation. From December 1955 to January 1957, he was Commanding Officer of No. 210 Squadron RAF based at RAF Topcliffe, Yorkshire. With them he flew Lockheed P-2 Neptune, a maritime patrol aircraft. His squadron patrolled the Mediterranean in the run up to Operation Musketeer in 1956. He was post to Bangkok in 1957, where he served on the staff of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation that he had helped create. His final posting, from 1963 to 1966, was to the Operational Requirements branch of the Air Department in the newly expanded Ministry of Defence.

Later life In 1966, following his retirement from the RAF, Nunn joined the government branch of IBM. He retired from the company in 1982. It was awarded for landing his damaged Avro Manchester bomber on the night of 16 August 1941 while on a mission to bomb Düsseldorf, Germany, thereby saving the lives of his crew.