Douglas Bader Loses His Legs, Keeps Flying

On This Day in History: December 14, 1931

Group Captain Douglas Bader was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and he shot down a lot of enemy aircraft. He did so despite not having any legs, which he’d lost in a hold-my-beer flying stunt a decade before the war.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: December 14, 1931--

I wonder if any kids prank called his house and asked for “Master Bader.” That’s SIR Douglas Bader to you, rapscallion! They made me a knight! Born in 1910, Bader joined the RAF in 1928. Being that there wasn’t currently a war on, he had to find other ways to risk his life, so he competed in air shows. That would prove to fuck him up real good, but not end his flying career.

It was December 14, 1931, and Bader was attempting some low-flying acrobatics at the Woodley Airfield in Berkshire, supposedly on a dare. They’d been told not to do stunts low to the ground, but Bader wanted to show he was master of his aircraft. Alas, his wing tip touched the ground, causing him to crash. He was rushed to hospital where one leg was amputated below the knee, and the other above it. Afterward, Bader wrote of the incident in his logbook: “Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show.” Bad show indeed.

Bader worked his ass off to adapt to his new artificial legs, regaining the ability to walk, play golf, and even dance. And also to fly; a mere six months after losing his legs he was back in the cockpit. He was determined fit for service but then some dickwad in the RAF decided to reverse the decision. Until there was war, that is, when qualified pilots were in short supply.

He flew Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes in the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, and then in offensive raids over France. He quickly achieved the rank of flying ace with 22 aerial victories, plus a number of shared and other probable victories. In August of 1941, while on a mission over France, he collided with a German fighter plane, which ripped his Spitfire apart. He went to bail out but was stuck in place by one of his artificial legs. Thinking fast as he hurtled toward the earth, Bader pulled the ripcord to deploy his parachute, which yanked him free. Of his right leg. The strap holding the prosthetic to his body snapped, and the leg went down with the Spitfire.

The Germans treated Bader with respect, even arranging with the British to have an RAF bomber air drop him a replacement leg. Over the remainder of the war, he attempted escape so many times his captors threatened to take away his legs. Group Captain Bader was knighted in 1976 for his services to the disabled community. He died in 1982, age 72.

Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “fuck” a lot. Get both volumes of On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down. They make great gifts, and ‘tis the fuckin’ season!

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