Obituary: Commander Tony Shaw MBE, RAF pilot Born: 5 September, 1923, in British Columbia, Canada. Died: 21 November, 2012, in Dalgety Bay, aged 89. Commander Tony Shaw saw distinguished and courageous service in the Second World War with the RAF and then retired to live in Fife. He was a colourful and daring pilot who was shot down over France and twice escaped from his German captors - the second time, with much cunning, persuading his guards to desert with him. Anthony Ian Rawlinson Shaw, although born in Canada, returned with his parents to Britain when his father lost his job as a mining engineer because of the Depression. Shaw was educated at Christ's Hospital in Surrey and at 18 joined the Royal Navy as a naval airman 2nd class. After training at HMS St Vincent, Gosport, he learnt to fly. By early 1943 he had qualified in deck landings at sea and gained experience in flying Spitfires. The latter he described as "a beautiful aircraft" which gave him "an indescribable feeling of elation." His first operational squadron was to support the treacherous Allied landings on Sicily and at Salerno on the Italian mainland. His duties included photographic reconnaissance work which provided vital strategic information regarding enemy movements. He then supported the ground troops in southern France - again flying tactical reconnaissance flights around Avignon. In August 1944 Shaw spotted German troops marching along a road and he prepared to attack: on his fourth run his windscreen was smattered and he was immersed in white smoke. The situation was critical and flames engulfed the cockpit. The aircraft started to nose dive and Shaw found himself half out of the cockpit - with his legs caught in the gear levers. Luckily he wriggled himself clear and found himself descending to earth by parachute. Shaw was immediately taken prisoner and bundled into a covered lorry. On his third night he affected an escape and headed southwards but was soon recaptured. He was then put on a forced march with an escort of two German soldiers with whom he conversed in his schoolboy German. One of his escorts - "Konrad" - was a friendly veteran with whom Shaw struck up a genial rapport. On arrival in a town seething with German troops, Shaw was marched down a side road. In fact "Konrad" had orders to shoot him and then rejoin his own regiment. Instead, to Shaw's astonishment, "Konrad" and the other German soldier - "Kurt" - struck a deal with Shaw. They would not kill Shaw if all three surrendered to the advancing Allied troops and, for his part, Shaw would speak on their behalf. When the US troops arrived the RAF commander and his two German escorts were taken to Allied headquarters at St Tropez. Shaw rejoined his ship in Alexandria and was made an MBE. Many months later, while serving in the Far East in the war against Japan, he received a letter from "Konrad" informing him they were prisoners of war and were working on a farm in Arizona. Shaw spent the last year of the war on the carrier Attacker seeing action around the Malay Peninsula before VJ-Day. Shaw remained in the navy in peacetime as a trainer in the Fleet Air Arm and as an empire test pilot. His last appointment was as defence adviser in Sierra Leone. Shaw retired to Dalgety Bay in Fife in 1989, where he had spent some of his service months as a trainee. He kept in touch with his former naval colleagues and proudly unveiled, in 2004, the Donibee Sculpture, designed by Colin McPhail at the rail halt in Dalgety Bay. The impressive monument is on the ground where there was an RAF base. The monument evocatively depicts the well-known wingtip design of the Spitfire and proudly includes the famous RAF red, white and blue circular logo. It was unveiled by Shaw with the help of two of the cadets from 859 Squadron. Shaw also wrote his account of his wartime experiences in the Royal Navy. The Upside of Trouble was published in 2005. The book provides a fascinating insight into the challenges faced by the young pilots who flew Spitfires and then, in Shaw's case, went on to be a test pilot into the dawn of the jet age. A reviewer wrote that the book is "a sincere account of Shaw's many exploits told with an honest, modest and balanced fashion." With typical tact and consideration, neither in his book nor in conversation did Shaw ever reveal the identities of the German soldiers with whom he had struck his deal. He married, first, in 1951, Sally Philip. He married, secondly, in 1992, Elisabeth Shimmons, who survives him with two sons.