When I was a junior schoolboy, the war was a lot closer than it is now. Tales of heroes told in combat comics were meat and drink for us lads. Later we read memoirs. Then came the films. One of the greatest of these epics was the story of Douglas Bader.
Bader’s RAF career began as a fighter pilot and aerobatics specialist in the years between the wars. Flying low over an airfield while executing intricate manoeuvres was banned as being far too dangerous. Early in the 1950s movie he has just politely refused a challenge from a group of visitors
