St Stephen's Manse,
Broughty Ferry.

When I was an undergraduate at St Andrews University and playing for the Varsity golf team in the 1960's, I used to caddy for Douglas Bader. Later I saw Bader frequently when he visited the Limb Fitting Centre in Broughty Ferry where I was the local minister and chaplain. In the late 1970's I was at a lunch hosted in Strathallan School in Perthshire, seated beside Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck. When he heard that I knew Bader he told me what General Galland had said about the shooting down of the great man.(Galland was a close friend and hunting companion of Tuck for many years after WWII).

Galland said that there was no Luftwaffe activity that day in the area where Bader was downed and it was clear to everyone except Douglas that he was a victim of friendly fire. However, when Bader was invited to the mess, he asked to meet the German pilot who was responsible. It was an extremely embarrassing moment for the Luftwaffe who were loath to humiliate a brother officer, so one of their number was detailed to "confess". The Big Wing idea was pretty disastrous and many pilots were lost to friendly fire in the heat of the battle in those crowded skies. It is ironic that Bader, one of the main proponents of the idea, should have been its most spectacular casualty.

By the way, the accusation that the RAF dropped a string of bombs over the airfield followed by Bader's artificial leg is completely true. The pilot involved was a relative of my wife, the late John Drummond. He later became a director of Shell and arranged for Bader to be employed by the company after the War.

Kindest regards,

Rev Dr John Cameron