Patrick Wilson Langford (4 November 1919 – 31 March 1944), was a Royal Canadian Air Force officer, the pilot instructor aboard a Vickers Wellington bomber, who was taken prisoner during the Second World War.

[2] On 29 January 1940 in Edmonton, Alberta Langford joined in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Regular Service officer and was commissioned, he was assigned to Calgary Aero Club flying Gypsy Moth aircraft and then to No.1 Initial Training Squadron Toronto, serving at RCAF Camp Borden he was awarded his aircrew brevet pilot's flying badge on 19 August 1940.

[3] On the night of 28–29 July 1942 at 22:14 hours he took off in a Wellington Mark Ic bomber (serial number R1450) from RAF Upper Heyford to bomb the German shipbuilding and port city of Hamburg flying as Instructor with a student crew.

[4][5] He had baled out with his parachute on fire and was badly burned and hospitalized for 2 months by the Germans during which time he was promoted to full flight lieutenant before being sent on 1 October 1942 to Stalag Luft III in the province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Żagań in Poland).

He was the "trapfuehrer" responsible to ensure that the red hot stove on its tiled piece of removable flooring was back in place over the tunnel whenever the guards were nearby.

[8] He mastered his technique to a point that he could close the trap door above the tunnellers cushioned with blankets to kill any hollow sound, and get the stove in place with carefully replaced dust and dirt within 20 seconds of a guard approaching.

[14] Having got clear of the camp Langford was in a party of officers who fought their way through the snow and bitter cold walking as fast as they could, they kept pushing onwards despite the weather and survived freezing nights outdoors only to be recaptured on 28 March 1944.