S/Ldr. D. R. S. Bader was born on 10th February, 1910.
From the start, his life followed no placid pattern. When Douglas was a few months old, his family returned to India, where his father worked as a civil engineer. Young Douglas was left behind because his family thought him too young for India's harsh climate. He did not rejoin them until he was two years old, beginning a long life as a loner. The Bader family returned to England in 1913 and settled in North Doncaster.
The following year, when World War I began, Frederick Bader (Douglas's father) went with the British army into France. It was the last time Douglas saw his father, who died in France of complications from a shrapnel wound in 1922, and was buried near the town of St. Omer.
Throughout his early years, Douglas showed a fierce spirit of independence and nonconformity. He excelled in sports such as rugby football; when he was captain of the rugby team, his natural leadership abilities became apparent.
In 1923, Douglas stayed with his aunt Hazel Bader and her husband, Flight Lieutenant Cyril Burge, who at the time was adjutant at the Royal Air Force (RAF) college in Cranwell. That's when he first became interested in airplanes.

At the age of thirteen, Douglas became interested in becoming a pilot in the Royal Air Force and was awarded one of six King's Cadetships to the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in 1928. Not all of his flying was regulation and his superiors did not like his rebellious nature. Halfway through the two-year course, when the cadets took progress exams, Bader came out 18th out of 21 cadets. Cranwell's commandant, Air Vice Marshal Halahan , warned him: "You're young, I can understand your trouble, but the air force won't go on understanding. They want men here, not school boys." Bader emerged from Halahan's tirade considerably shaken, knowing the commandant was right. He studied harder, and his flying became better than ever.
He was narrowly beaten into second place for the Sword of Honour when passing out of the College in 1930, but was commissioned as Pilot Officer, and posted to RAF Kenley where he honed his flying skills on the Bulldog fighter with 23 Squadron. The Bulldogs were faster than the Gamecocks but heavier and liable to loose height rapidly in low-altitude maneuvers.

By early 1931, Douglas had gained a place in the Squadron's aerobatic team for the Paris Air Show.

Douglas, along with two other pilots from his squadron, went on an excursion to Woodley airfield near Reading on 14th December 1931. In the Woodley clubhouse a young pilot was discussing acrobatics with Bader, the Hendon star, and suggested that he give a demonstration of low flying. Bader refused, citing his inexperience flying acrobatics in a Bulldog. The matter was dropped until Bader and the other pilots were leaving. Someone dared him to do it. In some agitation Bader took off, then turned back toward the field. Flying low and fast across the field, Bader began a slow roll, but in his inexperience with the Bulldog he flew too low.
The Bulldog's left wing struck the ground, and the plane cartwheeled quickly into a tangle of wreckage. Both of Bader's legs were crushed, his left leg under the seat, his right tom by the rudder pedal. Bader was pulled from the Bulldog's wreckage by shocked onlookers and taken immediately to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, where he was placed in the care of Dr. Leonard Joyce, one of England's best surgeons.
Joyce immediately amputated Bader's right leg above the smashed knee and, several days later, the left leg six inches below the knee. After his second amputation, Bader's condition worsened. None of the doctors expected the 21-year-old pilot to survive. But Bader had great will to live.

After a long, painful recovery, Bader was transferred to the RAF Hospital in Uxbridge in 1932. While there, he became acquainted with the Dessoutter brothers. Marcel Dessoutter had been an aircraft designer until he, too, lost a leg in an air crash. Afterward he started a firm that made artificial legs of light metal alloys like aluminum. Douglas Bader was the first customer to require two artificial legs. Despite the physical impediment, Bader began to remake his life both physically and mentally. After several months of agonizing and determined effort, Bader learned to walk on both "tin" legs. He refused to use a walking stick, saying, "I'm going to start the way I mean to go on." He soon began driving a car again, with the pedals modified to accommodate his tin legs. Bader's thoughts then returned to flying. After a weekend spent with the Under-secretary of State for Air, Sir Phillip Sasson, in June 1932, Bader's desire to fly reached fever pitch. His host, who lived near Lympe airfield, arranged a flight for him in an Avro 504 trainer. Bader's handling of the Avro left nothing to be desired. Later, an RAF medical board found him fit for restricted flying duties.
Soon afterward, in April 1933, Bader was informed by the air force that he was to be retired on grounds of ill health, which left him feeling shocked and numb. Within weeks, Bader left the RAF on a total disability pension.

Douglas was discharged from the Service, but with the onset of the Second World War he recognised that it perhaps offered the opportunity of getting back in the air and joining the action. It was not easy and he had to be persistent, calling on a number of favours along the way. He was constantly being told 'there is nothing in King's Regulations allowing a man in his condition to fly,' but, as he was quick to point out, there was nothing in Kings Regulations to say a man in his condition could NOT fly. Eventually, due to the nation's overwhelming need for experienced pilots and with considerable support from those officers under whom Douglas had served in the early 1930s, the way was cleared and he was back where he considered he belonged.

In November 1939, Douglas went to the Central Flying School at RAF Upavon for assessment. Although not having flown for seven years, after just a few hours of refresher training Douglas was flying solo in a Tutor and progressed quickly to the Battle, Master and Hurricane. His final course report read: 'This officer is an exceptionally good pilot. He is very keen and should be ideally suited.to single-seat fighters.' In the section headed 'Ability as a Pilot', the Officer Commanding Refresher Squadron wrote 'Exceptional'.

By April 1940 Douglas was promoted, taking command of 'A' Flight of 222 Squadron, flying Spitfires. His skills as a pilot and his inspirational leadership qualities soon became well known throughout the Service and when, in June 1940, the totally demoralised Canadian 242 Squadron, a Hurricane unit, was withdrawn after the fall of France, Bader was quickly identified as the ideal candidate to take charge. Within a very short period of time Bader's leadership had transformed the Squadron. Group Captain Woodhall, Station Commander, RAF Duxford said '242 Squadron soon became an enthusiastic team led by their single-minded and swashbuckling OC Douglas Bader.'

Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley Milling, a young Pilot Officer at the time, remembered that 'Less than a month after he took command of the Squadron, morale was very high. Fear was ever present, of course, but Bader was afraid of nothing and through both example and constant encouragement he helped us all conquer our own anxieties'.

However even the seemingly indestructible Douglas Bader's luck ran out on 9th August 1941, when his Spitfire collided with a Luftwaffe Bf109 over France and Bader was captured and imprisoned for the remainder of the Second World War. His personal tally of 22.5 enemy aircraft was the fifth highest in the RAF. Despite confinement in a prisoner of war (POW) camp, Douglas eventually being transferred to Colditz, and his positive attitude towards escape and returning to action continued to inspire his fellow POWs. In April 1945 liberation arrived. Douglas came home but soon realised that there was now little place for him in the RAF.

After leaving the RAF in late February 1946, Bader flew all over the world, often with Thelma, touring Europe, Africa and America. He spent many hours visiting veterans hospitals.
In 1976, Bader was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his services to amputees, "so many of whom he had helped and inspired by his example and character." After Thelma's death, he married Joan Murray, who shared his interest in public work for the disabled. His workload would have been exhausting for anyone, let alone a legless man with a worsening heart condition, but iron willpower drove him on until August 1982, when he suffered a mild heart attack after a golf tournament in Ayrshire.

Three weeks later, on 5th September, 1982, after serving as guest speaker at a London Guildhall dinner honoring the 90th birthday of the Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Douglas Bader died of a heart attack. He was 72 years old. "He became a legend at first in the personification of RAF heroism during the Second World War," the London Times obituary said.

He rejoined the civilian ranks and carved himself a career as Managing Director of Shell Aircraft Operations, as well as serving on the Civil Aviation Authority.

Douglas soon realised that not only were many people in a similar position to himself but most were in less fortunate circumstances. Something had to be done to help and the tough-talking, no-nonsense Bader was the man to do it. Douglas Bader appreciated that he enjoyed an elevated position throughout the UK. His story was legendary and his direct attitude and forthright nature made people take note of what he said. He dedicated himself to improving the plight of disabled people everywhere and over the years supported and raised funds for countless charities and projects. In 1976, for his inspirational work for and amongst the disabled community, he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen.

Douglas Bader and his wife Lady Joan, OBE, came to Cupar in 1982 to open the original Douglas Bader Garden for the disabled. Designed by George Craig, it was created by North East Fife District Council to commemorate the International Year of the Disabled. Despite his failing health, Sir Douglas drew a large audience who crowded into the small garden to catch a glimpse of the living legend. Sir Douglas knew Fife well, and he often referred to it as "God's own country." He had Scots blood through his mother, and was a regular visitor to St Andrews where he played countless rounds of golf over the famous Old Course. A single figure player, he travelled the globe with his clubs and played with many leading players such as Ben Hogan, who had an affinity with the RAF hero because of the crash which almost wrecked his own life. A few months after visiting Fife Sir Douglas sadly passed away.

Douglas never tried to find an excuse for the accident. In his flying logbook he later entered the simple account, 'X-country Reading. Crashed slow rolling near ground, bad show.' When quizzed in later life as to what had gone wrong, a philosophical Douglas, after a brief thought, merely stated 'Just made a balls of it, old boy. That's all there is to it.' Having been informed by his doctors that he was doing remarkably well but should use 'sticks' as he would never walk without them, he retorted 'On the contrary, I will never bloody well walk with them.' He never did.

In the 1950s, Paul Brickhill’s book about Bader’s life, Reach for the Sky, became a global best-seller, leading to the epic Danny Angel film of the same title, starring veteran British actor Kenneth Moore. Consequently the inspirational story of Douglas Bader became a household name all over the world.