Squadron leader John ‘Willy’ Williams — whom Steve McQueen’s character in the 1963 classic was based upon — was recognised with a plaque on Manly Life Saving Club, unveiled by Warrigah MP Tony Abbott last week.

And his niece, Louise Williams, who has spent years researching and writing a book about “Willy’s” role in the escape through a tunnel from Stalag Luft III.

She said her uncle — a young Australian fighter pilot — who grew up with four siblings in a two-bedroom flat in Ashburner St Manly — developed many of the skills that helped him escape the camp in Manly.

“He was the chief carpenter in the Great Escape,” she said. “A lot of the skills that to that extraordinary escape effort really came from Manly.

“He was an early surfer and shaped boards so he had carpentry skills from board making and he was a surf life saver so had a lot of experience working as part of a team, which is really what the escape was about.”

She said the idea of the pulley system, which the men can be seen using to roll through the tunnel had likely come from Willy and his mates, who had devised it as a way of carrying large wooden surfboards around.

“He also had a friend who was a German migrant, (named Hans). He actually learned German at school and practised it with his friend when they were surfing,” she said.

“When (his plane) was shot down he could actually speak German.

“It was a very useful set of skills if you want to deviously tunnel your way out of Stalag Luft III.”

She said declassified documents showed parts of McQueen’s character were based on her uncle.

“In the movie there is a scene where Steve McQueen goes around and he requisitions the bed boards, to shore up the tunnel and they jump onto bed and fall through,” she said. “That is a sort of comic scene and if you look at the declassified documents and the accounts of the escape, that is John.

“It was John who was the Steve McQueen character. He was responsible for the wooden shoring in the tunnel and also a very ingenious underground railway they lie down and are pulled along.”

She said she believed her uncle, who was killed after being recaptured in Czechoslovakia along with three fellow escapees and executed on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler, never stopped thinking about Manly.

“This place is sort of hallowed ground for us, and for his name to be on the surf club is just extraordinary,” she said.

“This was the place he loved the best, he never stopped talking about coming home it was his life.”

A fact emphasised by a blue life saving book being one of the few items returned to his family.

Of the 76 who made it out of the camp, just three made it home. Twenty three were spared execution but sent to concentration camps, the others, who became known as “the 50” were executed.