The Finest Shambles 

Where did James Bond get his sang-froid? Well, when Ian Fleming began writing his novels in the 1950s, his fictional Bond was a vet of "the recent unpleasantness."  And Britain had plenty such who had exactly the kind of wisecracking composure that Fleming imbued his fictional spy with -- men like Douglas Bader.

Bader had actually been put out of the RAF for, among other things, violating orders about low-level aerobatics and totaling his new Bristol Bulldog fighter, while proving that upright or inverted, you can't win the Worlds Low Flying Record -- just tie. But in the War all was forgiven and the dauntless pilot was back in action. Britain's National Archives has opened the vaults to allow mere mortals to search and download -- alas, for a price -- British combat air reports of the war. The sample they post as a teaser is Bader at his best.

The sky was then full of Spitfires and Hurricanes, queuing up and pushing each other out of the way to get at Dorniers, which for once were outnumbered.... I squirted at odd Dorniers at close range as they came into my sights, but could not hold them in my sights for fear of collision with other Spitfires and Hurricanes..... It was the finest shambles I have ever been in, since for once we had position, height and numbers. E/A [enemy aircraft] were a dirty looking collection.

Tell me again that Bond is braver, cooler, wittier than real life?

Bader would be shot down and become a guest in various German prison camps, proving somewhat difficult to contain, and landing ultimately in Colditz, where the Luftwaffe unwisely concentrated all its most incorrigible escapers. After the war, he worked for Shell Oil and palled around with fellow Shell exec, and war hero, Jimmy Doolittle.

Oh, yeah, one more thing: he did all this with no legs. You see, the 1931 Bulldog crash that cost him his flying career -- for a while -- also cost him both legs. (His logbook entry for that one: "Bad show.") During the Battle of Britain, while he became a decorated leader and fighter ace, while he defied all Nazi Germany's attempts to keep him under lock and key, he was a double amputee.

Excellence, like courage, is where you find it -- not necessarily where you expect it.