Douglas bader.

[old strawberry]

I am to this day still confused as to the role Douglas Bader played during the Battle Of Britain. I assume We all know the story of Him through the film "Reach For The Sky" He was depicted as quite reckless, arrogant,a good leader, a brilliant pilot and an Ace basically to our eyes a hero and generally a nice Guy. But was he really like that?. Was He the major factor in the downfall or removal of Hugh Dowding and keith park? and yet listening to the Old BB Pilots still with us, those two Men were greatly reveared by Them. Another TV programme about Douglas Bader being shot down by the Germans, turned out in actual fact that He was shot down or had His tailplane removed by friendly fire. Was He trying to protect the squadrons record or was He embarrassed by the truth so kept quiet or did He simply not know who shot Him down?. I will be honest by saying that I have not read His autobiography, perhaps I should but will that answer My questions?.

[G-CPTN]

Won't an autobiography be somewhat biased?

[old strawberry]

It may answer the question as to whether or not He was less than economical with the truth.

[G-CPTN]

It seems obvious that Bader was a 'strong' character - otherwise he wouldn't have 'bounced back' from his double amputation and returned to being a pilot.

This no doubt gained him 'enemies' as well as accolites - history is mixed about his actual qualities.

He was no doubt a good self-publicist (as was Horatio Nelson, whereas Cuthbert Collingwood was actually the man in charge at Trafalgar who completed the victory) so perhaps you should treat accounts of Bader with appropriate scepticism. His disability obviously highlighted his escapades - had he been without this his history wouldn't be remarkable in any way. There must have been dozens who had similar achievements.

Oh - and 'Reach for the Sky' was written by Paul Brickhill, not Douglas Bader . . .


Never a person to hide his opinions, Bader also became controversial for his political interventions. A staunch conservative with traditional Victorian values, his trenchantly-expressed views on such subjects as juvenile delinquency, apartheid and Rhodesia's defiance of the Commonwealth (he was a staunch supporter of Ian Smith's white minority regime) attracted much criticism.