on ch 4 at 7.00

I'm watching that too!!
One of my all time heroes,even if he wasn't quite perfect.The men that served with him either loved him or hated him,as is normally the case with strong personalities,a brave man whatever you think.

Yes I agree, you would either love or hate him. It will be interesting to see if they decide if he was shot down or it was really a mid air collision.

I heard a story that he was accidentally shot down by one of his own squadron, thinking he was a ME109 (the later models looked similar to some of ours apparently). If so then the fact that he never breathed a word of it speaks volumes ...
Cheers
Richard

looks like it was friendly fire then

Excellent programme.

Sounds like he knew he was shot down,doesn't sound like he knew that was one of his own until later.Maybe!
I dont think that it detracts from the legend,in fact it probably makes him look even better.
What still makes him special is the way in which he fought his handicap and the fact that it still inspires people today in similar circumstances.

LINK of another about Bader

http://pages.zdnet.com/hookares/royal-navy-medic-1945/id36.html

[Edited on 28/8/06 by DEAN C.]

[Edited on 28/8/06 by DEAN C.]

DB knew he had been shot down, but until he was invited to Adolf Gallants HQ thought that it was by one of the 109s. In discussion with the pilots it became clear to him that infact it was not, ergo, it had to have been one of his own. At this point he changed his story, saying that he had been hit in a mid air collision by a 109, (the fact that no 109 reported damage that day, sort of spoiled his lie). So if some nosey b******d hadn't decided to investigate, and try to ruin yet another English Hero's reputation,, it would never have come to public attention. But as it turned out he was even more of a Hero, for not slagging of another pilot. Rant over!! ATB Ray

Friendly fire happened. My dad knew of one pilot who was technically shot down and killed whilst in a ground based 'Link Trainer' by a squadron of American pilots who attacked Dettling (IIRC, then name of the airfield)

I remember talking to my parents about Douglas Bader - he was not thought to be such a hero by many of their generation.

A rough summary would be:

He wouldn't have lost his legs if he hadn't been arsing around and disobeying the rules.

Many good french resistance fighters lost their lives due to his arrogance.

Much of his reputation was wartime propaganda.

I was surprised when my mother said that as normally she would never discuss anything to do with the war, which was a sad part of history as far as she was concerned.

DJ

I have read that he, like Guy Gibson, was the sort of bloke you either loved or loathed, no middle ground. From reading the booka bout him Reach For The Sky, Bader comes accross as a horrendous snob, making allowances for people who'd 'been to the right school' etc. IF he was like that, however, he was probably just a product of the upbringing he'd had so it wasn't anybody's fault, that's just how he was.

Don't suppose Churchill was the same do you? The great men didn't think twice about sacrificing a few thousand workers to gain a few feet on the battleground, we're all just fodder to them . They looked on it as sport like they did in India till it all went wrong.

I agree with the previuos statements but as hard as it sounds today I still think decisions made knowing thousands would be killed had to be made at the time!
My Grandfather who died a couple of years ago had a rough time in the Navy(as did everyone at the time)and would not talk either about the war until about ten years before he died.
To me he was my hero surviving being mined and shipwrecked(burnt oil on lungs etc)at sea searching for U boats and later having various terrible experiences.
to him and others losing so many friends relations etc the war was unjust!
But where would we have been if we had lost the war under the Nazis
Different people and different times.

PS: when Churchills ship picked my grandfather and the 10 other survivors(out of 122 I think)they straight away put them onto another passing ship going back to france so Churchill didn't see them!

[Edited on 30/8/06 by DEAN C.]