While the little glider models were seeking to escape through the fireplace of the room where they lived, unknown allies had arisen in the form of the avian community and the cat Miau-mein-Mauser. The birds were extremely disturbed by all the hoopla going on in the sky – a great many of their number had been shot down and wounded – and they were keen to aid any effort to halt the war. As for the cat Miau-mein-Mauser, he felt personally insulted by the competition – if anyone killed birds it was HIM, and no one else! So he agreed to a temporary ceasefire with the birds when the situation was explained to him by the raven Hoppdiqaux, who was highly intelligent – like all corvids – and fluent in many languages.
The raven Hoppdiquax had a nasty reputation all over Germany on account of his numerous crimes against humanity. There were few legs he had not pecked, few newspapers he had not tried to steal, few dogs he had not ridden on, and no food that was safe from his predatory beak. Under normal circumstances he would have sooner cracked a little glider model in his strong beak than helped it escape. However, he had lost several relatives in the recent skirmishes in the air, and he was keen to stop the shooting down of aircraft which imperilled the wider avian community to which he belonged. And like the cat Miau-mein-Mauser he rather felt put out that his favourite prey – human beings – were being attacked and irritated by other enemies. They barely took notice of his peccadilloes anymore, now that they had bigger problems to worry about, and this neglect rankled with him.
Now Hoppdiquax was a great one for spying and lurking and listening in on people's conversations, and soon found out that they used the little glider and airplane models to further their war in the sky. So one day, just at the time when the model gliders were plotting their escape, he took advantage of an open window and hopped in to have a chat with the scale model community, who, after some hesitation – his reputation preceded Hoppdiquax even here – accepted his offer of co-operation.
Suddenly the situation had massively improved for the little scale model community! They had enlisted the aid of the entire bird population of the area, including several who were quite large and able to carry them on their back or in their beak, like Hoppdiquax, as well as that of a large and wily cat – a cat quite used to open doors by jumping onto their handles …. They had also identified two possible exit ways. Firstly, the chimney, and secondly, the door, perhaps even a window, if they got lucky!
As usual, Mechthild Meise asserted herself and delineated a plan of action. “Before we can decide how to escape,” she said, “we need to determine who wants to come with us. The smaller sports gliders can probably escape through the chimney, but the larger transport gliders might get stuck. So we need several different escape plans for the different groups, and those of us who succeed will then rendezvous at a designated meeting place afterwards.” Stating the obvious had always been one of Mechthild's great strengths, so predictably everyone agreed with her.
"Hey, what about us," shouted the Spitfire from the next shelf. "What about us bombers and fighters and hawkers? Surely you aren't going to leave us behind?"
Oh dear! Mechthild, like most gliders, was contemptuous of the motorised airplanes, and rarely included them in her calculations and plans. But Rex Rhönadler was less chauvinistic than her, and assured the Spitfire that they would of course also be included in the escape plans. Slightly mollified, but still suspicious, the motorised airplanes agreed to join in the escape discussions of the gliders, which they had hitherto regarded with amused detachment.
After Hoppdiquax assured the scale models again of the support of their avian friends, he left through the window as before, and reported to his fellow birds and the cat Miau-mein-Mauser. The cat immediately offered his door-opening skills to the enterprise, and also contributed the advice that the window in the room where the scale models were held was opened every day after the church bells had tolled nine times for half an hour, and suggested that the Great Escape should take place at that time. “Do it on a Sunday,” he added. Everyone is at the 'Freiwilliger Arbeitseinsatz' then and few humans will be around the house. They depend on Hasso the dog to guard the place instead.”
“Leave Hasso to me,” croaked Hoppdiquax – torturing Hasso was one of his favourite past times.
Several blackbirds were at the meetings, and the one with a white ring around his eye asked where the scale models planned to escape to? He said that there was a large stork's nest not far on top of an old farmhouse, where they could perhaps hide for a while until the humans stopped looking for them. “The Adebar family has decided to stay in the Southwest of France this year, what with all the war and disturbances going on in Germany, so their nest will be quite empty.” “It is a pity the Adebars won't be around this year,” opined Hoppdiquax, “they could have taken the scale models to La Bourboule on their way to Africa, where they would be safe.” The raven Hoppdiquax, for all his faults, was a wise and knowledgeable old bird.
