h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice entry. A couple of things I noticed when reading.

luftwaffe - deserves a capital - Luftwaffe.

Some links to some of the BBC History sites might be nice.

And even links to other promiment sites like the Imperial War Museum. But that's just personal preference.

I belive Sir Douglas was also an official 'technical adviser' for the Battle of Britain movie, and from all accounts the bane of the directors days and nights

It's about time some of the individual actions of men and women in wartime were recognised - particuarly men like Bader. It wasn't the politicians who sacrificed everything.

Inspires me into writing about men like Albert Ball, Adolf Galland and the Hellcat fliers of the Pacific.

But not today

Good entry though. Thanks

MJ

thanks

Perhaps you could expand this a bit with a few anecdotes - like when he was in captivity he broke his artificial legs - and arrangements were made for the RAF to drop a new pair for him. Douglas promptly tried to escape on them.

You mention his father died in France in 1922 - this needs breaking up from the called up for the war bit - unless he dies as a result of wounds, in which case I'd say so.

You could mention the book - and the film that was made of his life - I've forgotten who wrote the book - which is annoying, but Kenneth Moore played him in the film.

I know kennth moore played him in the film, it is in fact a film I quite like, I've been trying to find some more information about his father with regards to him being in the war as soon as I find out for certain how he died I'll add it.

There is a story about Douglas poping the top of his canopy on his spitfire and lighting up his pipe on his journey home from battle, but again I don't know how true this is and so therefore whether or not I can put it in.

But I'll certainly add about the book, as soon as I've found out what it's called and the film.

The film was called "Reach for the Sky"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049665/

That'll teach me to post before I finish reading the entry!



When you put "Reach for the Sky" as the book title that should be in italic tags:
Reach For The Sky.

and

A film was made of the same name staring Kenneth More. = starring Kenneth More.

Kenneth More was desperate to play the role, he had studied Bader's life and said they had the same philosophy. More died just before Bader did. Within a few months, as I recall.

There is a Douglas Bader pub in Suffolk which might round off your entry quite nicely

http://www.douglasbader.com/

GB

Thanks Galaxy Babe I know about the pub I was trying to find a link for it but seeing as you've been so nice to provide it

Hi there,

Great entry overall. As a member of the RAF (though not a pilot) I like seeing something like this appearing in hootoo.

Sorry to be picky, but I noticed a couple of minor mistakes/inconsistencies.


In para 4, you mention 'Glaster Gamecock' fighters; this should be 'Gloster Gamecock'.

In paras 4 and 7, you say 'No 23 Squadron' and 'No 19 Squadron', but in para 8, you just say '242 Squadron'.

Date formats: In para 5, you use 'Monday 14, December', in para 7, you use '27 November', in para 8, you use 'August 30' and '15 September'. I'd suggest using the '15 September'-type format throughout the entry.

In the third-from-last para, the abbreviation for the Messerschmitt should be 'Me-109', not just 'me-109'.

In the same para, Colditz was liberated in 1945, not 1948.


In para 7, you write, "This was done at the RAF's Central Flying School in Upavon, eight years after his accident on 27 November 1939." This would read better as, "This was done at the RAF's Central Flying School in Upavon on 27 November 1939, eight years after his accident."




Please don't take offence at my being picky - I'd really like to see this entry in the EG - it deserves to be.


Also, some other bits of info:

1. His full name was Douglas Robert Steuart Bader.
2. I seem to remember that he learned to fly again after he was invalided out of the RAF (i.e. before rejoining for the war). I don't remember exactly when or where though, sorry.
3. When he was captured by the Germans, one of his artificial legs was damaged (although I remember reading somewhere that he actually left it behind in the aircraft when he bailed out!). One of the German pilots (a famous ace named Adolf Galland) arranged for an RAF aircraft to have safe passage to deliver a replacement. It was dropped by parachute into a Luftwaffe base in France then delivered to him in the POW camp. This was about two weeks after his capture I think.
4. He was awarded the DSO and DFC twice as well as the Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre by the French. In full, his name was: Group Captain Sir Douglas R.S. Bader DSO*, DFC*, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre. (The DSO* means 'DSO and bar'.) I'd suggest you just leave the title as it is though.
5. There is a foundation in his name working for amputees - www.douglasbaderfoundation.com

And two minor items which you probably won't want to include, but which I happen to know, so I'll tell you about...

1. The Douglas Bader School, a new primary school, was opened at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk in 2000.
2. Most RAF stations have at least one road in the married quarters named after him, e.g. 'Bader Crescent', 'Bader Close', etc.


Thanks for all the work you put in on this entry - it's easy for us to find mistakes, but much harder to write something in the first place.

Hi there,
This is a good subject but just a few points after a quick read.

I feel that it would be more correct to say that Bader's father 'died' in 1922 of complications from wounds rather than '...killed in France in 1922...'

Para 5 It should be aerobatics, not acrobatics

The Bristol Bulldog had something of a reputation for losing height while rolling, which was the cause of his accident, rather than 'flying too low'.

I stand to be corrected here but I don't think that you need the supplementary "s" after the possessive apostrophe in Douglas

Para 7 Typos: abillities> abilities; assesed> assessed

Good luck with this entry
DK

Deke,

Sorry to correct you, but notwithstanding the Bristol Bulldog's bad rolling performance, Bader himself admitted that he made a mistake. I'll quote from the biography on www.douglasbaderfoundation.com:

'Bader never tried to find an excuse for the accident. In his flying-log he later entered a simple account. "X-country Reading. Crashed slow rolling near ground, bad show." When quizzed in later life as to what had gone wrong, a philosophical Douglas, after a brief thought, merely stated "Just made a b***s of it old boy. that's all there is to it."'

Thanks guys

right the squadrons


he was put in 23 squadron when he first joined the RAF


When he rejoined at the start of the war he was put into 19 Squadron

And he was later given command of 242 squadron, it does say that in the entry

If it's not very clear then tell me

Sorry, I wasn't clear in what I meant. I was referring to the format of the sqn names; using 'No' or not ('No 19 Squadron' vs just '242 Squadron'). It's a very picky point, I know.

By the way, the 22.5 kills means that he was credited with a total of 22.5 kills by the RAF. If two pilots claimed the same kill and no proof existed that just one of them had done it, then two 'half-kills' were awarded instead. So 22.5 might have been 22 kills and a shared kill, or 45 shared kills, but more likely something in between! Bader himself claimed to have shot down 30 aircraft, so I guess it was something like 15 full kills plus 15 'halves' (but that's a guess).

Hello Cal,

I've only just come back on line since your last reply; so, sorry for the delay.

I was conscious of the fact that my posting was, perhaps, somewhat inappropriate, and may have caused you some offence. For that I apologise, sincerely.

This will be a very good Entry once you have addressed the changes suggested by all the other Researchers in this thread. It has great potential. If you can get hold of a copy of his autobiography and paraphrase a few interesting quotations and facts of his life you will attract many readers.

Some of the quotes I have found are very good and that one mentioned above about his accident made me smile, as if losing both legs were a mere inconvenience. It shows the kind of man he was, and deserves to be in the entry.
I suggest putting it in the tag (no need for speech marks) and put it at the beginning of the entry. (Just for an example: A6257865)

I forgot to say, your link to the Queen A793631 is the edited entry on the Queen Mother. I am currently writing an entry on our current Queen, so you can't link to that - I suggest you change your link to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/elizabeth_ii_queen.shtml

'Some of the quotes I have found are very good and that one mentioned above about his accident made me smile, as if losing both legs were a mere inconvenience'.

I just love RAF understatement.

A few years agio a Jaguar fighter crashed outside the perimeter of the Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down. Actually, it had problems during take-off, and flames were seen coming from the engines. The pilot made a 'short circuit' but had to bale out before reaching the airfield. He, apparently, landed on the roof of the Medical Centre of the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down.
Climbing down a drainpipe, he knocked on s'ones door and, upon entering said, 'Excuse me, I wonder if you can help? I've just had a bit of a problem parking'.

Hi Casper.
I haven't got any argument with that, I didn't explain myself fully. Clearly Bader was responsible
He was an experienced aerobatic pilot, he had after all just taken part in the Hendon air display and as mentioned just converted from the Gamecock to the Bulldog shortly before. He had also been personally warned against low flying and there were restrictions on any manoeuvres below 1000 feet. It was known that the Bulldog in particular was likely to come out of a roll 400 feet below the entry point if the speed was not maintained. Bader must have been well aware of this and ignored all the warnings at his peril.
DK

guys

Tried to please everyone there so see what you think

Any more comments?