REACH FOR THE SHY!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 798, 5 November 1954, Page 6

REACH FOR THE SHY!

NE spring afternoon in 1944 the Allied prisoners of war in Germany’s most impregnable prison camp, Kolditz Castle, saw gun-flashes in the woods and the crawling black beetles of approaching American tanks. They shouted and danced with jubilation, and the following day, when the Castle had been captured after a brief artillery duel, they rushed out into the courtyard to greet their rescuers. A little behind the others, a stocky man with’ dark wavy hair and a pipe clenched between his teeth, stumped along on two artificial legs. Douglas Bader, the indestructible Englishman, had been rescued at last. The story of Douglas Bader, the légless R.A.F. Wing Commander who defied most of the laws of human endur- . ance first as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. and later as a German captive for four years in’ a series of prison camps, has been admirably

told by Paul Brickhill in his book Reach for the Sky. Bader was one of the legendary figures of the war. By many he has been classed as the best fighter leader and tactician the Segond World War produced, and one of the best pilots. He was only the third man in history to win Bars to both his D.S.0. and D.F.C. The "finger four" and other fighfer tactics evolved by him before he was shot down were adopted by Fighter Command to combat the Messerschmitt 109s, and some were even used by the Luftwaffe itself. He was credited with 224 enemy. aircraft officially confirmed as destroyed (though his private total was 30). Yet from 1931, when the plane he was flying crashed during a reckless aerobatics stunt, he had been a man with-

out legs. The story of Bader’s life as told in Reach for the Sky has been made into a radio serial by Australasian Radio Productions, and is to be broadcast from ZB stations at 7.0 p.m. on Saturdays, with Rodney Taylor. taking the part of Bader. Reach for the Sky is the story not only of heroic war deeds Dut of a determined man’s, amazing triumph over a crippling disability. It is this which has made Bader a legend in his own lifetime. "His main triumph is not his air fighting." Paul Brickhill writes. "That was only an episode that focused . a world’s attention on the greater victory he . achieved in showing humanity new horizons of courage, not in war, not only for the limbless, but in life... Bader’s war goes on un-

ceasing to be won anew each day. He has been honoured for courage and skill in the air against the enemy, but no one yet has thought to honour him formally for his continuing fight which profits Man more than his battle deeds." As a young man Bader was an outstanding athlete who might have played Rugby for England. As a cadet at the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell he won his "blues" for cricket, Rugby, hockey and boxing. His phenomenal abilities as an athlete also made him an exceptional pilot, and at 21 he was selected to perform the star aerobatics turn of the R.A.F. Air-Display at Hendon. It was described in The Times as "the most thrilling spectacle ever seen in exhibition flying-ten minutes full of the cleanest trick flying, synchronised to

a fraction of a second-the most successful of the Hendon displays yet held." After this Bader became over-confident, and}*some thought, conceited. When some pilots from a neighbouring aerodrome dared him to do a demonstration beat-up of the airfield (though such displays had been specifically forbidden) he couldn’t resist the challenge. The trouble was that he had lately started flying a new type of plane, the Bulldog, while the machine in which he had given the Hendon exhibition was a Gamecock. Bader crashed his plane into the ground, and, though he survived, both legs had to be amputated. The doctors who fitted him with artificial legs gave him a stick and told him he would never walk again without one. But he was determined to make ‘no concessions to the loss of his legs, and threw away the stick. He swam, danced, played tennis, squash and golf. He flew again. But the Air Ministry decided that a pilot without legs could not officially be permitted to fly, and he was discharged from the R.A.F. Bader found himself adrift in a world of mounting unemployment, but he wasn’t disheartened. Soon he secretly got married, and later he won a job with a big oi] company. When war broke out the R.A.F. would only offer him: a ground job, but by sheer persistence he fought his way back to flying. He was given command first of a flight, then a squadron, and eventually of five squadrons. He became an inspiring leader with an utter disregard for danger. When he was shot down the Germans said, "For you the war is over." But within a matter of days he made his first escape down a rope of sheets from the third floor of the St. Omer hospital. He became the enfant terrible of a succession of prison camps. As Brickhill puts it, "The Germans were nonplussed by a man who should have been in a wheel-chair, but who even as a disarmed prisoner was an unmanageable and implacable enemy." Bader is undoubtedly a great man, and the radio story of his life should make memorable listening. "Reach for the Sky" began at 1ZB on October 30, and will start at 2ZB on November 20, 3ZB on December 4, and 4ZB on January 1. It will not be heard from 1ZB on Election Night.