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| Saturday, February 5, 2000 |
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DOUGLAS BADER'S life is an example of supreme courage, determination and true heroism. Douglas was born in 1910, the second son of his parents. His father Fredrick Bader worked as a civil engineer in India, and his mother Jessie was the daughter of an engineer. In 1913, Fredrick resigned from his post and went to his family home in England. When the war broke out, Fredrick was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. He was wounded in 1917, and died as a result of these wounds in 1922. Jessie Bader had brought up her sons with great care. Both brothers studied in a school in Kew and then at Temple Grove. Douglas excelled in sports and gained a scholarship to St. Edward’s in Oxford. He wanted to join the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell but his mother could not afford its expenses. With his hard work and determination, Douglas won a cadetship. After dual instructions for merely six hours, he flew solo in October 1928. Besides studying and flying in Cranwell, he continued to excel in the field of sports. He was posted to Kenley where he made immense progress as a fighter pilot. |
On December 14, 1931, while he was sitting
at a flying club drinking coffee, he was challenged to
give a practical demonstration of aerobatics. Bader
refused and one of the men commented that he did not have
courage to do so. In a state of fury, he left the club.
The moment he took off something went wrong and the
aircraft began rolling and the propeller and cowling
exploded and the engine tore out. An ambulance carried
the unconscious pilot to Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Douglas was under great shock and his companions did not
expect him to survive. He did survive but, unfortunately,
he had to lose both his legs. When the recovered he was
fitted with artificial legs. With his determination and
"never say die" spirit he continued to practise
walking. After days and days of stumbling, he started
walking without the aid of sticks. He wanted to join the
R.A.F and passed his flying test again, but the ministry
concerned rejected him on the grounds of certain
regulations. Douglas was heart broken when he saw his
name on the list of retired persons. His disability
pension was not enough for survival, so he took up a job
with the Asiatic Petroleum Co. When World War II began,
he wrote to the aviation ministry to put him back on the
active list. On December 8, 1939, he was back in the
R.A.F. Within a short period of time he was promoted as a
flight commander and in 1941, he was promoted to the rank
of wing commander. Both as a flier and as a planner, he
contributed to the British success in the Battle of
Britain. On August 9, 1941, he was shot down while flying
and taken prisoner by the Germans. One of his artificial
limbs was damaged but soon replaced. He remained a
prisoner for the rest of the war. He made an attempt to
escape while in St Omer Hospital. He got out of the
building by using a rope of bedsheets, but was caught and
sent to Kolditz, where the difficult prisoners were
housed. He was finally released in 1945 and Shell offered
him a job again. Douglas left the R.A.F and rejoined
them. He was given his own aircraft and was permitted to
fly all over the world doing business for the company.
Douglas died in 1982. His courage and persistence has
been and will always be a source of inspiration for
numerous disabled persons. |
The Battle of Britain BATTLE of Britain was a decisive air conflict during World War II (1939-1945). Officers of the Luftwaffe (German air force) believed that British resistance could be reduced by the use of air power alone. They believed that an invasion would be possible once Germany had destroyed the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Battle of Britain began on July 10, 1940, when about 60 German aircraft attacked ships in the English Channel. For the rest of the month, the Luftwaffe tested RAF defences with repeated attack on the Dover area. In August, the Luftwaffe extended its attacks to all the air bases in southern England. In September, the Luftwaffe attacked London and the airfields on the Thames valley. An attack by 400 German aircraft started fires in the London docks, but 53 of the attackers were shot down by the RAF or by anti-aircraft fire. On September 15, an enormous force of 1,300 German aircraft made a two-pronged attack against the London docks and the Southampton area. In cloudless skies, the air battle spread over the whole of southern England, and lasted all day. The RAF lost 27 aircraft and the Luftwaffe 56. The most important result of the September 15 raid was that the German High Command realised it could not destroy Britain’s air defences. A last German effort with a force of 850 aircraft was beaten off by the British at the end of September. The great success of the British defence was largely due to the high quality of the fighter aircraft used — Spitfires and Hurricanes. Also important was the use of radar to give early warning of the approach and position of enemy aircraft. The bravery and endurance of the RAF during the Battle of Britain prompted Sir Winston Churchill’s famous tribute: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." |
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