Douglas Bader lost his legs.

1931-12-14 to 1931-12-14

Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, a key figure in the Battle of Britain, was born on the 21 February 1910. In December 1931 he almost lost his life when he was flying low over a military airfield. His plane tip touched the ground, crashed, and broke up. Doctors had to amputate his right leg above the knee and the left leg 15 centimetres below the knee to save his life. The provisions of the King's Regulations brought an end of his flying career. He now had two prosthetic legs. England went to WW II with Germany in 1939 and as the RAF was critically short of trained pilots it waived the King's Regulations. Bader was back in the cockpit right in the middle of the Battle of Britain. As a Spitfire squadron commander (222 squadron0, he shot down 23 enemy aircraft during the course of the war (June 1940 to August 1941) Within a month, his special unit destroyed 152 German bombers. In August 1941 he had his plane sliced in two and became a POW. Bader waited barely 48 hours before he escaped but was recaptured He continued to try to escape only to be recaptured. He was knighted in 1976. He died of a heart attack on 5 September 1982 at the age of 72.