Bader, Sir Douglas Robert Steuart 1910 - 1982

British fighter pilot born on 21 February 1910, in St John's Wood, London. He was commissioned in August 1930 and was then posted as a pilot officer to 23 fighter squadron at the RAF station at Kenley. In 1931, Bader lost both legs in an air crash at Woodley airfield at the age of 21. Six months after his operations he was walking unaided on his artificial legs.

Bader was re-engaged by the RAF in November 1939, and served throughout the Second World War. He was held as a prisonner of war from 1941-1945 after his aircraft was shot down near St Omer in the Pas-de-Calais.

He retired from the RAF in 1945 and went on to work for the Shell Company, becoming managing director of Shell Aircraft Ltd. He retired in 1969 and was knighted in 1976 for service to the public and the disabled. Bader died in London on 4 September 1982.