FORMER Colditz prisoner-of-war Bill Goldfinch, who designed and helped build a glider to fly prisoners to freedom from the infamous German prison, was toasted by members of the Old Sarum Flying Club, when they held a lunch to mark his 90th birthday.

Still designing and building aircraft at the club's Old Sarum airfield, the former Salisbury city engineer, who lives in Farley, has had an incredibly eventful life.

Mr Goldfinch learned to fly before the outbreak of the Second World War and was still flying regularly from Old Sarum when in his late 80s.

He was taken prisoner in 1941 when he was co-pilot of a Sunderland, which made a forced landing off Crete and he eventually ended up in Colditz.

It was here with his friend, Jack Best, that Mr Goldfinch designed a glider which could be used to help them escape.

He and other prisoners-of-war built the glider from bits and pieces of floorboards, roof structures and odd bits of material, under the noses of their German guards.

The glider never flew, but in February, 2000, Mr Goldfinch was joined by fellow surviving Colditz prisoners at RAF Odiham, in Hampshire, to watch a glider, built from his drawings, take to the skies and make a successful flight.

The glider was not the only aircraft Mr Goldfinch designed and built.

He built a Luton Minor plane in the 1970s which he regularly flew from Old Sarum and now he can be found in a hangar at the club's airfield, busy building a float plane from bits he has scrounged.

Club spokeswoman Victoria de Candole said the club felt honoured to host Mr Goldfinch's 90th birthday lunch.

She said: "All the staff and club members at Old Sarum hope to celebrate many more birthdays with this exceptional man."

Mr Goldfinch served for 40 years in local government and became city engineer for Salisbury in 1973, retiring later the following year.

He hit the headlines in March last year when he joined other surviving Colditz prisoners shunning a new television drama about life in the German war prison.

The group accused the programme makers of "messing with history" and branded the programme a "travesty of the truth".