Frank Day’s photo-reconnaissance Spitfire was attacked off the coast of Crete in 1942 by five Me109s which succeeded in destroying his control system. His thumb was shot off and a cannon round was lodged in his knee. He baled out with extreme difficulty, landed in the sea, and was picked up by some Italians who took him ashore to hospital in Heraklion.

When he recovered he was sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan in German Silesia, where he spent the rest of the war.

His servitude was interrupted by the famous Great Escape through a 320ft long tunnel on the night of March 24-25, 1944. Day was sitting in “Piccadilly Circus” — the underground staging post short of the mid point of the tunnel — when a patrolling sentry outside the perimeter fence spotted the exit, which owing to a miscalculation was 25ft from the edge of the surrounding woods, just as the 79th man was emerging.

Day and the others in the tunnel scrambled back into the hut above its start point. After the guards had regained control of the situation, he and a selection of the others were thrown into the cooler for three weeks. He was lucky: of the 76 who got away, only three actually made a home run, and 50 of the escapers were murdered by the Gestapo on the direct orders of Hitler.

Leading article: The tragedy of Stalag Luft III

The deepest distress will have been aroused by the fate of the officers who attempted to escape

As the Soviet Army advanced westwards, Day and the other inmates of Stalag Luft III had to endure a freezing march to Spremberg, from where they were distributed to other camps on cattle trains.

Frank Day was born in 1917, the son of a London wine merchant. He was educated at Uppingham School, also learning French in Poitiers and St Jean de Luz. He then joined the RAF and qualified as a flying instructor.

When war broke out, Day joined the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. By the time he was shot down, he was a squadron leader and had more than 2,500 flying hours. When Day’s mishap occurred he was based at Kilo 8 near Alexandria in Egypt. He was later awarded the Air Efficiency Award.

After the war he started work for the chemists Savory and Moore, packing parcels, rising to become managing director. When the company was sold he bought a small electronics firm in Oxford.

He was a keen yachtsman, taking part in the Daily Express offshore powerboat race for three years, winning his class at the third attempt. He was also involved with the Carthusians in Cheshire where he went into refuge, and worked with St Wilfred’s Hospice in Chichester tending the terminally ill.

Day lived contentedly on the waterfront at Bosham in Sussex for 60 years. On his 90th birthday last year a Spitfire flew over his house to salute him.

His wife, Louise Antoinette Margaret Kaye, predeceased him. He is survived by his two sons.

Squadron Leader Frank Day, wartime photo-reconnaissance pilot and PoW in Stalag Luft III, was born on May 5, 1917. He died on June 29, 2008, aged 91