The Great Escape - Albert Hake

The Great Escape - Albert Hake

From For You The War Is Over by For You The War Is Over

May 7, 2026 · 57 min · Season 8 · Episode 78

About this episode

The episode discusses Albert Hake's contributions to the Great Escape during World War II, particularly his creation of hand-made compasses for fellow prisoners.

Although Albert Hake was an NCO, as a Spitfire pilot the Germans assumed he must be an officer, and so they promoted him to an officers rank when they captured after being shot down. His main contribution to the Great Escape was producing hundreds of hand-made compasses for his fellow escapers, stamping on each compass “Made in Stalag Luft III - Patent Pending”. We were joined by author and historian, Kristen Alexander, to share with us Hake's story. For You The War Is Over is a podcast that looks at the real life stories of Prisoner-of-War escapes from the the Second World War. Hosted by Dave Robertson and Tony Hoskins, each episode looks at a new escape.  If you would like to follow us, you can find us on  Twitter ,  Facebook , and  Instagram  or if you would prefer to email us, we can also be reached on FYTWIOpodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Dave Robertson, Tony Hoskins

Guest: Kristen Alexander

Topics covered

  • Prisoner-of-War escapes
  • World War II
  • Great Escape
  • military history
  • compasses
  • NCOs
  • aviation

Keywords

  • Albert Hake
  • Great Escape
  • Prisoner-of-War
  • compasses
  • World War II
  • Kristen Alexander
  • aviation history
  • Stalag Luft III

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: For You The War Is Over, Stalag Luft III

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