Centenary Year of the Birth of Douglas Bader

100 years ago on 21 February, 1910 Douglas Bader was born. Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War.

In 1928, Bader joined the RAF, but, on 14 December 1931 at Woodley airfield near Reading, lost both his legs in an aircraft crash attempting a slow roll at very low level following jibes about his not wanting to perform aerobatics that day.

Bader recovered, undertook refresher training, passed his check flights, and attempted to stay in the RAF but was retired for medical reasons on 30 April 1933. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he re-entered the armed forces and requested that he be assigned to the RAF. Posted to a fighter squadron in 1940 Bader scored his first kills during the Battle of France, over Dunkirk.

Read more about Douglas Bader on Wikipedia.

Read more about the Douglas Bader Foundation on their website.