Oliver Lawrence Spurling Philpot MC DFC (6 March 1913 – 29 April 1993) was a Canadian-born Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and subsequently a businessman, best known for being one of the three men to successfully escape from Stalag Luft III in the escape known as The Wooden Horse.

He wrote the book Stolen Journey, in which he recounts daily life as a prisoner in various POW camps, ending with his escape via the Wooden Horse and his return to England.

This proved to be useful in his wartime escape as the post required him to travel extensively in Germany and to learn to speak German.

With the approach of the war, Philpot was recalled for service in August 1939 and posted as a pilot officer on probation to 42 Squadron, an 18 Group Coastal Command unit then operating Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers.

One man was carried out in the horse and the tunnel started by digging a shaft, lined with plywood panels from Red Cross parcel boxes.

Initially Philpot assisted in disposing of the sand, but later on Codner and Williams asked him to join in the digging and become one of the escapers.

[14] Digging was a cramped job and sand was dragged back to the bottom of the shaft by the digger and then placed into bags for lifting and disposal.

[16] The tunnel had several narrow escapes from detection or accidental destruction due to digging by either the guards or other POWs, but by the beginning of October it was past the wire and the three men started to make their final preparations.

They decided to make the break in the period of no moon at the end of the month and escape on Friday, 29 October 1943.

After almost giving himself away by falling off his case and swearing in English, his false papers were good enough to survive checking by a police officer.

[17][19] Arriving in Danzig less than 24 hours after escaping from Stalag Luft III, Philpot started to look for a neutral ship to carry him across the Baltic Sea to Sweden.

Without the knowledge of the captain, the chief engineer and a seaman hid Philpot until Tuesday, when the ship sailed.

After the ship arrived in Sweden, Philpot was handed over to the Swedish police and taken to the British Legation in Stockholm on Thursday 4 November 1943—less than five days since the breakout.

Williams, Codner and Philpot were the only three men to escape from the east compound at Stalag Luft III and regain their freedom (the so-called "home run").

Philpot was Chairman of Robert Windsor Ltd in the late 1960s (A subsidiary of Union International based in Smithfield and run by the Vestey family).