William Franklin Ash MBE (30 November 1917 – 26 April 2014) was an American-born British writer, broadcaster and Marxist, who served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He was shot down, made a prisoner of war, and was noted as an escaper. Early life Born into a lower-middle-class family in Dallas, Texas, Ash was a migrant worker during the U.S. Great Depression, and graduated from the University of Texas with a BA degree, writing privileged pupils' essays to gain money and also for his personal development as an author. Around this time, the Spanish Civil War broke out, and the largely apolitical Ash, driven by a hatred of bullies and fascism, decided that if the war was still going when he turned 21, being old enough to fight, he would join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. World War II service Ash enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Windsor, Ontario, on 22 June 1940. He did his basic training at No.1 Initial Training School from 20 July 1940, and he was promoted to leading aircraftman on graduation on 14 October 1940. Having been accepted for pilot training, Ash was posted to No.12 Elementary Flying Training School, from where he graduated on 30 November 1940. Posted to No. 31 Service Flying Training School, he learned to fly single-engine fighters. On graduation, he was commissioned on 25 March 1941. Ash was assigned to Embarkation Depot on 3 April 1941 for the voyage to England, where he completed a period with Operational Training Unit before joining No. 411 Squadron RCAF. He flew Spitfires in many defensive and offensive missions, including an attack on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In 1942, he flew in "Big Wing" fighter sweeps over France with No. 411 Squadron RCAF. Prisoner of war On one of these missions to attack Comines Power Station on 24 March 1942, flying Supermarine Spitfire Mark Vb (serial number "AB281") from RAF Hornchurch, Ash was one of three of the squadron's pilots shot down by Jagdgeschwader 26 he crash-landed at Vieille-Église, about 15 miles from Calais, and was smuggled by the French Resistance to Lille and onward to Paris. He was arrested in Paris at the end of May 1942 and imprisoned at Oflag XXI-B, Szubin. In September 1942, he exchanged identities with an army private and joined a fatigue party, from which he escaped,