The Douglas Bader Mystery

Originally posted by Moserious
That is quite an interesting story. Young Master Bader seemed to be quite the hero. I wonder why he would go back to the camp though that just seems too weird for words. I will keep following this thread on Master Bader and I look forward to the climax to this story. Thanks.

Did you seriously just type that?

lol nice

I suspect some won't catch it. haha

anyways Yea this guy seemed to be a very honorable man, and the Germans/ Nazi's themselves trying to create the perfect humans basically probably Respected the Hell out of the man for his honor and bravery. Traits any perfect Human would have , according to them...

So yea I could see how they would allow him to do this. Most of what we "know" is only about 15% of every truth that there really is.

Originally posted by Popeye
As a kid I used to go fishing with my father and one of his old pals.

One day my father offered him some turnips and he nearly vomited, it turned (he had never talked of the war before and my father only knew he was in the RAF like himself) that he was part of the first complete Wellington bomber crew to be capture, after being shot down in 1941. He apparently had turnips for breakfast, lunch and tea for 4 years.

Anyway to get to Bader, they were both in Colditz together, though he could not stand him as he would contantly bully escape committee to allow/support him in escape attempts that had little chance of success and each time other more worthy schemes would be rejected/sidelined because of precious resources allocated to Bader, and when he was caught their rations would be cut in half.



[edit on 21-8-2007 by Popeye]

Well Sounds like Bader, while a good soldier, was kind of an Arse and a bit self centered.

Interesting bit of history though.

Originally posted by timeless test
Thanks for the update Waynos, I take Ken's point entirely about a temporary arrangement.

...but why would Bader return to Germany. Would he take his determination not to be treated as an invalid to such extremes as to return as a matter of honour?

I'm not really expecting an answer to that, just thinking out loud so to speak.



[edit on 22-8-2007 by timeless test]

If he Returns to the place he just was, he can then give them detailed information about the Base and it's layout so they can plan a bombing raid on said camp/base.

By allowing him back, he can relay information to his fellow pow's of what to do and where to be if a rain occurs so as to not get hurt in the bombing.

Having his legs dropped and the Brits bombing could have been a part of the plan all along.

Think about this......Think about all the plans that were never approved for the war From the British and the Americans' and every side really. All the stuff we don't know they were thinking is the interesting stuff.

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


Indeed. Bader certainly was intensely dogmatic and upset a lot of people. his intelligence letters sent secretly from inside captivity give a very interesting insight to the man.

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


Why would anyone want to bomb a pow camp? Why would the Germans allow such an operation to happen with their cooperation? Doesn't make sense.

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Well. Here we are again and I hope the tone will remain civilised going forward.

We have discussed the photo of bader climbing out of his spitfire and what that might mean about his mobility vis a vis use of sticks. Another anecdote is interesting - in the early 50s he visited his old school to give a talk, he was spotted by one of the boys walking from his car and carrying a case. It was a hot day and So one of the boys went over to offer to carry baders case but was abruptly sent on his way with a curt "bugger off". Later it was explained to the boy that bader had to rise to all his challenges.

reply to post by waynos


Wow this is interesting! Douglas Bader was a great english ace, Even after he lost his legs, he continued to fly (weird thing regulations, If you lost ONE leg you can't fly, BUT if you lost both hop in and FLY ) But as far as I know he was shot down in 1942 and spent the rest of the war in Colditz Castle, so maybe the author got his dates wrong? Bader never left untill the castle was captured in 1945 by the allies. The author was correct in that Bader had trouble with his metal legs, always need help to put them on in the morning. Pat Reid, whose books on Colditz (as he was a prisoner there since it opened) often wrote about helping Bader put his legs on, So again did the author confuse his work with somebody else? or got his dates wrong?

The Germans DID hold him in the highest regards. after he was captured, the allowed him to sit inside a ME-109 (no take off of coarse ) just to answer a few questions he had about he plane, just by sitting in the cockpit he spotted several flaws, that he relayed to the allies via simple codes in letters, SO he did do some spying, but mainly he was credited with helping POWS escape at the POW camps and later Colditz. To me that makes him a hero in my book.

Nice thread though, makes a man think

Certainly individual Germans held bader in high regard, but in an almost direct reflection of baders feelings towards Germans and Germany, the German state regarded bader as a dangerous and resolute enemy. Bader's letters home weren't coded - the content was written in clear but hidden inside photos and so on

As you say, an interesting thread but one with a high level of misinformation!

It's important to note that baders legs were not the trial to him that many imagine. Not long before his move to colditz he had escaped and throughout his life he remained mobile, independent and most notably not reliant on a stick