# Hogan's Heroes & Stalag 13 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048 "2012-09-07T23:19:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/41 "2012-09-09T19:34:06Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > Okay, so if there has never been a successful escape from Stalag 13, then how the hell was Sgt. Kinchloe WRITTEN OUT of the show and replaced with Sgt. Baker!? That’s what I love about the Dope — we’re discussing the hottest issues, days before the lamestream media catches up. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/42 "2012-09-09T20:09:43Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > What I want to know is why Hogan (and the rest) had dress uniforms with them. now, obviously they needed them for formal occasions (and dating) but should assume they packed to be POWs? Hogan definitely had a Class A uniform in his closet. I always assumed either that (a) as a high-ranking officer, he was able to have it sent to him from England through Switzerland (those uniforms were tailor-made and expensive; he was probably POed at having left it behind), or (b) he showed remarkable foresight in packing it on his last mission and wasn’t in enough of a hurry to bail out of his airplane to forget it.\* On the other hand … maybe his squadron mates dropped it at Stalag 13, the way aviators would drop memorial wreaths at enemy aerodromes in WWI, or he just might have had a tailor in Hammelburg whip one up for him (stranger things that that happened all the time on the show). \*Yeah, right! If I were the last man to bail out of a stricken bomber, saving a duffle bag would be the last thing on my mind! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/43 "2012-09-09T21:43:48Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > That’s what I love about the Dope — we’re discussing the hottest issues, days before the lamestream media catches up. I’m the original poster. Isn’t it amazing what we can all find time to discuss here? But hey, that’s the beauty of the Straight Dope Message Board. In fact I’m getting a kick out of everybody talking about their favorite episodes and speculating about Klink, Schulz, Hogan, Kinchloe, and everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/44 "2012-09-09T22:09:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hogan definitely had a Class A uniform in his closet. I always assumed either that (a) as a high-ranking officer, he was able to have it sent to him from England through Switzerland (those uniforms were tailor-made and expensive; he was probably POed at having left it behind), or (b) he showed remarkable foresight in packing it on his last mission and wasn’t in enough of a hurry to bail out of his airplane to forget it.\* > > On the other hand … maybe his squadron mates dropped it at Stalag 13, the way aviators would drop memorial wreaths at enemy aerodromes in WWI, or he just might have had a tailor in Hammelburg whip one up for him (stranger things that that happened all the time on the show). > > \*Yeah, right! If I were the last man to bail out of a stricken bomber, saving a duffle bag would be the last thing on my mind! :rolleyes: Douglas Bader, the famous WW II RAF pilot, was a double amputee. When he was shot down over France, he left a prosthetic leg in the cockpit. General Adolf Galland of the Luftwaffe informed the British of the situation. The RAF dropped a replacement on a Luftwaffe airfield _with Goering’s permission_. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/45 "2012-09-10T12:58:44Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > That movie might have been [36 Hours](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Hours#section_1) with James Garner. A great movie. It was a surprise to see John Banner pop up as a more ruthless version of Schultz. He played a crooked border patrol guard. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/46 "2012-09-10T13:08:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The show took considerable dramatic license portraying blacks in a Luft Stalag. The only black aviators in the USAAF during WWII were the Tuskeegee Airmen, who were all fighter pilots and officers. Kinch’s specialty (radio operator) and rank of SSgt implied he was a crewman on a bomber (and only airmen were lagered by the Luftwaffe, so he couldn’t have been in the ground forces). No. Absolutely not. The TA’s were a self-sufficient group, as the forces were still segegated at the time. I know several of them, including one who was a radio operator. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/47 "2012-09-10T13:24:34Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > That movie might have been [36 Hours](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Hours#section_1) with James Garner. Didn’t nptice your post before. The movie title isn’t registering, but the description of the movie sounds right. Maybe something I picked up on the late night movies they used to show on TV back in the dark ages. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/48 "2012-09-10T13:59:05Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > When Werner Klemperer died, I recall reading that he had been a talented concert violinist and that that had been his main career. But that to his dying day, he absolutely was delighted whenever someone came up to him and recalled his role as Colonel Klink. Klemperer was also a talented conductor; his father of course was the great conductor Otto Klemperer. I read somewhere that Klemperer only took the job on the show on the condition that the Nazis never won. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/49 "2012-09-10T14:11:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > No. Absolutely not. The TA’s were a self-sufficient group, as the forces were still segegated at the time. I know several of them, including one who was a radio operator. Wow! I envy you; the stories he must have to tell! But he wasn’t an RO on board an aircraft, was he? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/50 "2012-09-10T14:14:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Didn’t nptice your post before. The movie title isn’t registering, but the description of the movie sounds right. Maybe something I picked up on the late night movies they used to show on TV back in the dark ages. They showed it just a few weeks ago on either TCM or AMC (can’t remember which). I remember seeing it with my dad and older brother when it first came out. EDIT: I think it was TCM. Part of an Eva Marie Saint showcase. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/51 "2012-09-10T14:19:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Wow! I envy you; the stories he must have to tell! But he wasn’t an RO on board an aircraft, was he? No, at the base. But that’s a common misbelief–that all TA’s were pilots. They covered every aspect of service, out of necessity. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/52 "2012-09-10T14:22:54Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > No, at the base. But that’s a common misbelief–that all TA’s were pilots. They covered every aspect of service, out of necessity. So I guess it is _possible_ that a black AAF radio operator could have been captured by the Germans? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/53 "2012-09-10T16:00:03Z")
Much like in Doctor Who, where all questions can be answered by saying, “Look! Monsters! Run!” all questions in Hogan’s Heroes can be answered by saying, “Look at the stupid Nazis.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/54 "2012-09-10T17:33:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > So I guess it is _possible_ that a black AAF radio operator could have been captured by the Germans? The only African-American AAF units that saw action in Europe were single-seat fighter groups, piloted by commissioned officers. Look at the stupid Nazis! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/55 "2012-09-10T17:43:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > When Werner Klemperer died, I recall reading that he had been a talented concert violinist and that that had been his main career. But that to his dying day, he absolutely was delighted whenever someone came up to him and recalled his role as Colonel Klink. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Klemperer was also a talented conductor; his father of course was the great conductor Otto Klemperer. > > I read somewhere that Klemperer only took the job on the show on the condition that the Nazis never won. [Imdb.com](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0459252/bio) says it was on the condition that none of Klink’s schemes succeeded. This thread has made me ponder the odd notion that this world was maybe made just a little bit better because the son of a Jew who fled with his family from Nazi Germany in the 1930s himself played a bumbling Nazi. Funny old world. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/56 "2012-09-10T17:46:09Z")
Since the premise of the show is that the heroes were intentionally send in to be captured, they could have put anyone on the plane in an airman’s uniform if he was a valuable resource (forgetting about the reality of US Army racism at the time). Also, as far as uniforms go, I recall Carter was adept at creating high quality uniforms out of blankets that could pass muster with the Nazi’s, so I’m sure he could have worked up a dress uniform for Hogan. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/57 "2012-09-10T17:48:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [Imdb.com](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0459252/bio) says it was on the condition that none of Klink’s schems succeeded. This thread has made me ponder the odd notion that this world was maybe made just a little bit better because the son of a Jew who fled with his family from Nazi Germany in the 1930s himself played a bumbling Nazi. Funny old world. I think that was their intent. Banner and Klemperer had to play Germans all the time, so this one probably gave them some pleasure. Also, it was a way for them to stick it to the Nazis and say, “Oh yeah? We won, you lost, and we get to make fun of you now”. Actually pretty classy compared to what I might have done in their shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/58 "2012-09-10T19:50:08Z")
I think the most amazing thing about this show is that Crane seduced _both_ of Klink’s secretaries. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/59 "2012-09-10T20:28:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Also, as far as uniforms go, I recall Carter was adept at creating high quality uniforms out of blankets that could pass muster with the Nazis, so I’m sure he could have worked up a dress uniform for Hogan. Carter was demolitions. Their first tailor was Vladimir Minsk, in the series’ pilot. After that, LeBeau and Newkirk seemed to do most of the tailoring. They could have come up with a dress uniform for Hogan, I suppose, but getting the proper insignia, buttons, and other accoutrements would have been a bitch. (In _The Great Escape_, German insignia were made by melting the thin foil in cigarette packs and pouring it into molds carved from soap, IIRC.) **Kunilou** , please read Annie-Xmas’s posts above. **If** Kinch had been an RO at the Airmen’s base, and **if** he had been captured somehow by the Germans, that would explain why he was wearing Army ground forces uniform (combat boots, knit cap, field jacket) instead of flight gear. My God, I love threads like this: virtual fountains of hitherto untapped information and possibilities! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/60 "2012-09-10T20:32:14Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think the most amazing thing about this show is that Crane seduced _both_ of Klink’s secretaries. On camera and off. The first one, Helga, left the show after things got sticky. The second one, Hilda, he ended up marrying after he was divorced (his wife finally caught on to what was happening). Apparently all three were perpetually as horny as March hares. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048.md?page=4)