Bader's father saw action in the First World War in the Royal Engineers, and was wounded in action in 1917. When his father resigned from his job in 1913 the family moved back to London and settled in Kew. His first two years were spent with McCann relatives in the Isle of Man while his father, accompanied by Bader's mother and older brother Frederick (named after his father but called 'Derick' to distinguish the two), returned to his work in India after the birth of his son.Īt the age of two, Bader joined his parents in India for a year. Bader died, aged 72, on 5 September 1982, after a heart attack.Įarly years Childhood and education īader was born on 21 February 1910 in St John's Wood, London, the second son of Major Frederick Roberts Bader (1867–1922), a civil engineer, and his wife Jessie Scott MacKenzie. He continued to fly until ill health forced him to stop in 1979. Bader campaigned for disabled people and in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1976 was appointed a Knight Bachelor 'for services to disabled people'. During the 1950s, a book and a film, Reach for the Sky, chronicled his life and RAF career to the end of the Second World War. īader left the RAF permanently in February 1946 and resumed his career in the oil industry. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. Soon afterward, he met and was befriended by Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace. In August 1941, Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his ' Big Wing' experiments. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. Īfter the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Douglas Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. īader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, DL, FRAeS ( / ˈ b ɑː d ər/ 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. Commander of the Order of the British Empire

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