High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! David M. Jones (December 18, 1913 – November 25, 2008) was a United States Air Force pilot who served with distinction during World War II. He was one of the Doolittle Raiders whose exploits in April 1942 were dramatized in the film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. He then flew combat missions over North Africa, where he was shot down. He was a German prisoner of war for two and a half years — helping with the escape attempt described in the book Great Escape, which was later the subject of a Hollywood film. The character Virgil Hilts, played by Steve McQueen on the 1963 film was based on Jones.