SIR DOUGLAS BADEREven more than 20 years after his death on 5 September, 1982, aged 72, limbless fighter pilot Sir Douglas Bader is still remembered as a hero of the World War II skies.
His boundless energy, enthusiasm and dedication in the face of his handicap became an inspiration to many, including his peers, subordinates, and the disabled.
Honoured in 1976 with a knighthood for his contribution and work on behalf of the disabled, a charitable foundation has since been set up in his name by family and friends to promote the welfare of “persons who are without one or more limbs, or otherwise physically disabled.”
“Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do this or that,” he once said. “Never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible.”
Douglas Robert Stuart Bader was born on February 21, 1910, in St. John’s Wood, London. The second son of a Royal Engineers Major, he was educated at St. Edward’s School in Oxford and joined the Royal Air Force as a Cranwell cadet in 1928.
There he became an outstanding pilot as well as an above average sportsman who captained the rugby team and was a champion boxer.
In 1930 he was finally commissioned as an officer in the RAF but after only 18 months crashed his aeroplane, leaving him a double amputee. He later described the accident as “my own fault” and was soon after discharged from the RAF.
Back to civilian life, with a new pair of artificial legs, he began working with the Asiatic Petroleum Company. However, the outbreak of World War II in 1939 saw him rejoin the RAF as leader of the 242 squadron and play a pivotal role in the Dunkirk skies during the Battle of Britain.
In 1941 he was promoted to Wing Commander but later that year shot down and taken prisoner by German forces who reportedly treated him with the greatest respect and even allowed British forces to drop a new prosthetic leg by parachute as a replacement for his damaged one.
He reportedly tried to escape from the hospital where he was recovering so many times that the Germans threatened to take away his legs and eventually had to have him dispatched to a POW camp at the ‘escape proof’ Colditz Castle.
After the US Army finally relieved the Castle in the spring of 1945, Sir Douglas travelled to Paris where he requested a Spitfire so that he could rejoin the fight. Refused, however, he returned to England and was promoted to Group Captain.
He remained with the RAF until, in 1946, he took a job at Shell. Later life saw him become controversial for his political interventions and forthright opinions on subjects such as apartheid and Ian Smith’s Rhodesian white minority regime.
Six years after receiving a knighthood on 5 September, 1982, and with a worsening heart condition, he died of a heart attack at the age of 72.
His biography, ‘Reach for the Sky’, became a bestseller and a film of the same title hit screens in 1956 starring Kenneth More.
The Douglas Bader Memorial Garden in Fife, Scotland, was opened in 1982.
Sir Douglas' artificial legs are on display at the RAF museum in Stafford.
While convalescing from his accident in 1932 he learnt to drive a specially modified car, as well as dance and play golf.
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