In this excerpt from Paul Brickhill’s post-war biography of Royal Air Force legend Douglas Bader Reach for the Sky, he included an anecdote from fellow fighter pilot Hugh “Cocky” Dundas. Bader had lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident but talked his way back onto flying operations and became a heroic wing leader flying in combat with artificial limbs during the Battle of Britain.
Saw the movie ages ago. After the war, he stuck up for amputees, kept flying for fun, and stayed in the aviation world until the end. Hell of a pilot – bold, relentless, daring, disciplined, fearless.
When Douglas Bader accompanied his friend Adolf Galland to a dinner in Munich after the war, he was surprised to find the dining room filled with former Luftwaffe fighter pilots. ‘My God,’ Bader exclaimed, ‘I had no idea we left so many of you bastards alive!’
Excellent book and uplifting story. I remember him saying how happy he was to learn that he could play golf, “… a sport I could play with anyone on even terms.” Ha, I can’t even play with two good legs!
I read the book (still have it somewhere) and watched the movie many times. His story was one of several that created my love and passion for flying. More stories and “big” characters will hopefully inspire more generations to fly. We need them!
In Robert Stanford Tuck’s biography (Fly for Your Life), the author related a testy exchange with Bader over whether they should shift to canons from machine guns (Bader thought the guns were just fine; Tuck passionately argued for canons). Upon leaving the meeting at high command, Tuck vented to South African ace “Sailor” Malan, “Why does Douglas always have to be so bloody stubborn?” to which Malan replied, “Because if wasn’t so bloody stubborn, he bloody well wouldn’t be here.”
Bader was indeed quite the asshole at times, it sounds like. That’s only to take someone down a little, given that he’s always being put on a pedestal. I take my opinion from the well known British author Ben Macintyre’s book on Colditz, which I have read. The Telegraph newspaper’s review of the book summarizes it nicely, about Bader’s time as a POW in Colditz castle:
"An exception was Alex Ross, a Seaforth Highlander bandsman until his capture in France, who had the misfortune to skivvy [= do the grunt work] for Douglas Bader. His daily duties included carrying him two flights down a winding staircase for his daily bath then back up again. When Ross got the chance to be repatriated in a prisoner exchange, Bader vetoed it. Years after the war, he got a call from him asking the whereabouts of some spare tin legs left behind in the castle. Ross admitted he had been forced to leave them behind. Bader called him a c— and hung up.
Macintyre’s depiction of Bader is a healthy corrective to the heroic image promoted by British propaganda long before he was shot down. He was a hero, yes, but also an egotistical monster and if anyone deserved the epithet he flung at Ross it was himself. "
AFAIK he was not the only war hero that was not a real nice guy. I don’t think this is actually all that rare.
The Flying Tigers were not real thrilled with Pappy Boyington apparently wrecking more P-40s than shooting down Zeros for one example (Before the Black Sheep: Unhappy Tiger 'Pappy' Boyington), but he did get better.
Joe, it’s interesting you mention Boyington in this regard, he famously said, “Show me a hero, and I’ll show you a bum.”
“Reach for the Sky,” the standard Bader biography, was written by Paul Brickhill…also known for “The Great Escape” and “The Dam Busters.”
Larry Forresters biography of Robert Stanford Tuck (“Fly for Your Life”, as mentioned by Mark, does drop a hint that Brickhill over-romanticised his subjects. Brickhill describes Tuck in almost “mythical hero” terms in “Reach for the Sky”, which Tuck/Forrester disputes.
Whatever the actual personalities of people like Bader and Boyington,there’s no question they inspired at least some of the men they served with, and should be honored as the heroes they were.
