We always seem to expect our heroes to be nice people & disappointed when we find out that they don't live up to our expectations. Nobody said that a successful fighter pilot has to have a genial personality & very often the best ones were outcasts or misfits. They were obsessed with their job which was to shoot down as many of the enemy as possible. This usually involved creeping up behind them & blasting them out of the sky before their victims knew they were there. Typical hunting tactics & nothing like the romantic aerial chivalry of legend. I found this description of Captain Albert Ball VC, MC & Croix de Guerre - the British WWI ace. Ball was a loner & didn't mix easily with his squadron mates. He preferred to hunt alone & often went off on his own early morning or evening missions. He was just 20 years old when he died in combat in May 1917.
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Oh, it was very far from romantic-but thats how it is percieved today and when I was very young, thats how I thought of it (and how my original interest was originally created).  If I remember right, the only people who were allowed to have parachutes were the operators of observation ballons (since they really couldn't defend themselves).  The thought of not allowing pilots to have parachutes always bothered me, but I suppose it seemed like the right idea at the time.   

I wasn't aware that pilots carred pistols to use on themselves if their plane caught fire-I guess I learn something new everyday, but it doesn't supprise me.  The only things I had heard about was pilots jumping out of their planes and falling to their death instead of burning.  An American ace who volunteered and joined with the French early in the war (Raoul Lufbery) met a simular end.  His Nieuport fighter caught on fire and witness saw him jump from his plane (trying to land in a nearby river as his altitude wasn't very high)-unforunately he missed the river and was killed when he hit the ground.

I have read that the pilots llife expectancy was measured in days not weeks.  But, this is not only attributed to aireal combat.  During WWI, many were killed due to accidents and structural failure due to bad design.  I have read different statsticts on this and some say that as many people were killed  by accidents and alike than were killed in combat (I don't know if I believe that is true) but there were many more accidents that most people realize.

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In a book I have titled Aces High by Alan Clark (a good book with lots of picutres  ) which has a lot of interesting information about the aces.  It has a quote by von Richthofen which I thought showed his true feeling about aireal combat, he stated that "When I have shot down an Englishman my hunting passion is satisfied for a quarter of an hour."  To me, this shows that he looked at if as he was hunting an animal. 

He also went souvenir hunting after he had shot down the a plane.  Really, the only notable kill he ever had was when he shot doen a British ace named Lanoe Hawker early in the war (von Richthofen flying a Albatros D.II and Hawker flying a DH.2-I wonder who had the advantage   ).  Anyway, this was the first plane he got one of these "souvenirs" from, he went out and found the wreck and took the machine gun from it and hung it above his door.  He claimed he did it because of the great fight Hawker put up (like if it was sport) but I think it was just a trophy.  Here is a photo of his living quarters (out of the same book).  Notice the serial numbers from planes on the wall and the light.


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Yeah, I think I chose the wrong word to discribe his status.  I was looking for for a more noble meaning than royality.  But, I do agree that most people in the United States think he was the son of the king or something simular.   

Well, this is becoming a fun discussion.  I look forward to discussing this more...but if I don't leave now I'll be late for my first day of school.   

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I stand corrected.....

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Thanks Richie. I missed that. As I mentioned earlier it's been a long time.

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I wouldn't have expected otherwise. Bader was a product of the pre-WWII regular RAF officer corps. Things were very different in those days & as a callow youth I was expected to know my place. Even in the early 60s Britain was riddled with class distinction* & there were many more like him. One that springs to mind is Raymond Baxter, the ex-Spitfire pilot who went on to become a famous TV presenter. I won't tell you what I thought of him & his superior attitude. I met many very interesting people in the aviation world at the time & some were extremely friendly & pleasant. I had a lot more respect for them.

*PS. I think this is something that many historians (& students) tend to forget. These events are usually presented from a modern perspective when attitudes & lifestyles were quite different, even a few decades ago. Knowing what life was like for people at the time is very important. IMHO

We seem to have strayed a little off-topic.
I have no wish to do a demolition job on Douglas Bader's reputation. Whatever I or anyone else might think of him he was obviously a very brave & determined man. I think the public impression of him has more to do with Kenneth More's brilliant & sympathetic portrayal of him in the film "Reach for the Sky" (which Bader himself heartily approved of) than what he was really like. This does go to prove my point that the media is often responsible for creating these legends.

Speaking of legends, I had the honour of meeting my boyhood hero Squadron Leader Neville Duke quite recently. Now in his 80s he's just as I always imagined him, a true officer & Gentleman with a capital G. http://www.gapan.org/committees/trophies/02aoh.htm