Helicopter jail-break baffles police

Press, 2 March 1981, Page 8

Helicopter jail-break baffles police

NZPA-Reuter Pans The French police said yesterday that they had few leads in one of the greatest prison escapes in *:tbe nation’s history — a : ond helicopter breakout that strangely resembled ;th e actor Charles Bronson’s film , “Breakout.” . The two fugitives and their two rescuers have’ net been seen since they fled to a waiting car after ordering' 4 ’ a helicopter pilot to land o a ;/ a field in Paris about 32fai - north of the maximum-se- ’’ curity prison where the.’;' escape occurred on Satur- l. day. The pilot, who was order. ? ed at gunpoint to land on’ a .3 soccer field at the prison ?’ where an inmates’ game.was-V; in progress, was questioned. ; for more than eight hours' by the police yesterday. .- ' x The police said the pilot, 1?: Claude Fourcade, aged 48,9 was shown more than > 400 v mug shots of known, criml- ' • nals but was unable to tify the two mysterious men Who had hired him for what was supposed to be a simple tourist flight from Paris south to Orleans in the 5 Loire Valley. i In a peculiar twist, Mr Fourcade had worked on the : . set of “Breakout” and in , several other films detailing : prison escapes with the use of helicopters. The police have empha- “ sised that Mr Fourcade was : not ’a suspect in the case ? and that his previous film - work was only an eerie coincidence. Mr Fourcade is considered France’s top helicopter pilot and took Saturn day’s job at the last moment when the ■ pilot who was scheduled for it was unable to undertake lit.