Sir Douglas (Robert Stuart) Bader - Early years, Joining the RAF, World War II, Post-war, Additional information

Wartime aviator, born in London, UK. Commissioned from Cranwell in 1930, he lost both legs in a flying accident in 1931 and was invalided out, but overcame his disability and returned to the RAF in 1939. He commanded the first RAF Canadian Fighter Squadron, evolving tactics that contributed to victory in the Battle of Britain, but was captured in August 1941 after a collision with an enemy aircraft over Béthune. A great pilot and leader of what Churchill called ‘the Few’, he set an example of fortitude and heroism that became a legend. He was knighted in 1976.

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE DSO and Bar DFC and Bar FRAeS DL LegH CdeG RAF (21 February 1910–5 September 1982); Bader is upheld as an inspirational leader and hero of the era, not least because he fought despite having lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident.

Early years

Bader was born in St John's Wood, London to Major Frederick Roberts Bader of the Royal Engineers and his wife Jessie.

Joining the RAF

Bader joined the RAF as a Cranwell cadet in 1928. Bader was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, where both his legs were amputated - one above and one below the knee.

Bader made the following laconic entry in his logbook after the crash:

"Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show," (Crash!, Andrew Brookes, 1991, ISBN 0-7110-1965-7, p36)

Although he was still able to fly with artificial legs, he was invalided out of the RAF.

World War II

When war broke out in 1939, Bader used his RAF Cranwell connections to rejoin the RAF, despite his disability and reticence on the part of the establishment. Despite initial resistance to their new commanding officer, the pilots were soon won over by Bader's strong personality and perseverance, especially in cutting through red tape to make the squadron operational again.

As a friend and supporter of his 12 Group commander Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the duo was an active exponent of the controversial Big Wing theory. Bader was an outspoken critic of the careful 'husbanding' tactics being used by 11 Group commander Keith Park, and Bader vociferously campaigned for an aggressive policy of assembling large formations of defensive fighters north of London ready to inflict maximum damage on the massed German bomber formations as they flew over South East England. As the battle progressed, Bader often found himself at the head of a composite wing of fighters consisting of up to five squadrons. Achievements of the Big Wing were hard to quantify, as the large formations often overclaimed aircraft shot down, but there is no doubt that Bader and Leigh-Mallory contributed to the departure of both Fighter Command commander Air Marshal Hugh Dowding and Air Vice Marshal Keith Park after the battle was over.

In 1941 Bader was promoted to Wing Commander and become one of the first 'Wing Leaders'. Stationed at Tangmere, Bader led his wing of Spitfires on sweeps and CIRCUS operations over northwestern Europe through the summer campaign to tie down Luftwaffe fighter units that might otherwise serve on the Russian front. One of the Wing Leader's 'perks' was permission to have their initials marked on their aircraft as personal identification, thus ' D-B ' was painted on the side of Bader's Spitfire.

By August 1941, Bader had claimed 22 German planes shot down, the fifth highest total in the RAF. On August 9, 1941 Bader was shot down and taken prisoner.

More recently, in a Channel 4 documentary "Who Downed Douglas Bader?", aired on 28th August 2006, research by air historian Alex Saunders now suggests that he may have been a victim of ‘friendly fire’, shot down by one of his fellow RAF pilots after becoming detached from his own squadron. RAF combat records indicate Bader may have been shot down by F/L 'Buck' Casson of 616 Squadron, who claimed a 'Bf-109 whose tail came off and the pilot bailed out'. Bader was flying at the rear of the German fighter formation, alone and his squadron were the opposite side of the Germans. 'Buck' only had a few seconds in which he saw Bader and mistook his Spitfire for a Bf-109. Whether Bader devised the collision story to cover for a fellow pilot is left unresolved.

Bader was captured by German forces, who treated him with great respect.

(General Galland has stated in an interview that the plane dropped the leg after bombing his (Galland's) airfield.

Bader tried to escape from the hospital where he was recovering, and over the next few years proved as big a thorn in the side of the Germans as he had been to the RAF establishment.

Post-war

After returning to England, Bader stayed in the Air Force until February 1946. Bader resumed playing golf, an enthusiasm developed after his amputation, achieving a handicap in the low single figures.

Never a person to hide his opinions, Bader also became controversial for his political interventions. His association with figures on the radical right fringes of British politics contributed to a perception that he was a closet extremist and racist - an impression that in the case of the politically unsophisticated Bader was almost certainly incorrect.

In 1976 Bader was knighted for his services to amputees and his public work for the disabled. His workload was exhausting for a legless man with a worsening heart condition, and Bader died of a heart attack on 5th September 1982 at the age of 72, after a golf tournament in Ayrshire.

Bader's artificial legs are on display at the RAF Museum at Stafford, although this is not a museum that is open to the public.

Additional information

Douglas Bader has a road named after him in Elm Park, Essex. Bader Way is a few minutes walk away from the old RAF base in Hornchurch. There is also The Bader Way in Woodley, Reading.

Bader's biography, Reach for the Sky, was written after the war by Paul Brickhill and became a best seller. However, Bader flew a Spitfire Va equipped with just eight .303 machine guns, as he insisted that these guns were more effective against fighter opposition.

It was thought that Bader's success as a fighter pilot was partly due to having no legs; As Bader had no legs he could remain conscious that much longer and thus had an advantage over more able-bodied opponents.

Two pubs have been named in Bader's honour. The first, the Douglas Bader, is located in the village of Martlesham Heath on the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield where Bader was briefly stationed in 1940. The second, the Bader Arms, is situated in the village of Tangmere, West Sussex near RAF Tangmere, where Bader was stationed in 1941.

The Douglas Bader Memorial Garden in Cupar, Fife was opened by Bader in 1982. "Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools."

On many RAF Stations, including RAF Coltishall and RAF Coningsby there is a Junior Rank's barrack block named after Douglas Bader.

Due to his lack of legs, Bader was referenced (as "Dougie Wougie Bader") in the Half Man Half Biscuit song "Arthur's Farm" - a play on the two legs bad/four legs good theme of the George Orwell novel Animal Farm.