Necro post incoming.
Virgil Hilts was from Star Ace's golden era, before the dark times. I still like the figure a lot, but he's never had a proper place in the collection. Can't even remember what encouraged me to buy him, as The Great Escape has never been high on my list of favourite films.
Since I decided to move out of the 1930s Indiana Jones trilogy inspired era and fully into WWII, I've been wondering about Virgil again. Where will he fit in the collection? Will he even fit in the collection?
At the moment there's two main WWII areas: Soviet female military personnel and Germans in the North African campaign (Afrika Korps and Luftwaffe).
I happened across this video about Captain David Mudgett Jones, who was the real life inspiration for Virgil Hilts, which will no doubt be old news for many:
There it is, the North African connection. It's a very tenuous link, but it gave me the idea to display him as a newly taken POW with the North African Luftwaffe.
I lifted this biography from Wikipedia and edited it a little:
Captain David Mudgett Jones took part in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Lacking the fuel to make a safe landing after the raid he bailed out over China, where he was assisted by the Chinese people in evading capture. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation as a flight commander in the planning, training and completion of the mission. After escaping capture, Jones was flown to India, where he spent three months with the 22nd Bomb Squadron flying further B-25 missions against the Japanese.
In September 1942, Jones was assigned to the new 319th Bombardment Group, preparing for combat in North Africa. He was assigned to develop low-level bombing tactics and techniques due to his experience with the Doolittle project and his belief in low-level bombing tactics.
On December 4, 1942, he was shot down over Bizerte, Tunisia, and spent two and a half years as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III. As a result of his constant agitation and harassment of the enemy, he was selected for the "escape committee" by fellow prisoners. The committee reviewed escape plans and directed escapes. Jones led the digging team on tunnel "Harry" used in the Great Escape, chronicled in Paul Brickhill's autobiographical book, and portrayed in the 1963 film. After his liberation in April 1945, Jones was commended for leadership among his fellow prisoners.