Vincent Parker

Vincent Bushy Parker^[3](11 February 1918 – 29 January 1946) was an Australian Royal Air Force flying ace, a prisoner of war and a serial escaper.^[3] He participated in the Second World War.

Parker's aunt and uncle adopted him at two years old, following the death of his mother. Parker emigrated to Australia with his adoptive parents. In Australia, Bohleville State School educated Parker in the 1930s. After his schooling, Kodak employed the teenage Parker. He also trained as a magician and an escapologist. As a magician he later worked with Leslie George Cole (The Great Lavante).

In 1938, in Sydney, he obtained a billet as a steward on the ship Ontranto and traveled to Britain. In May 1939 he trained as a fighter pilot at an RAF flying school in the UK. He then participated in the Battle of Britain. The RAF credited Parker with the five aerial victories during the war. And in August 1940, Parker baled out of his damaged Spitefire over Portland after a dog fight. Injuring his shoulder, he baled into the Channel and here, the German Navy captured him. As a prisoner of war, Parker escaping was constant. He escaped from Stalag Luft I and Stalag Luft III. In May 1942, the German prison authority sent Parker to a camp for high security risks called Colditz Castle.

Post liberation, in January 1946, an aviation accident killed Parker. Comrades in Colditz, Stalag Luft I and Stalag Luft III have described Parker in the literature. Parker was a talented card sharp, and one of the four outstanding lock pickers in the Schloss. The Colditz literature highlights many escape attempts used Parker's lock picking skills. Paying respect to Parker, Townsville City Council named Vincent Bushy Parker park in Rollingstone, Queensland Australia after him.