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In 1915, eight years after he left
Teddies, Louis Strange, who was one of
the very first pilots of the RFC to fly over
northern France, found notoriety when his
Camel fighter plane rolled over in combat.
Hanging upside-down in mid-air from the
bullet drum of his machine
gun, Strange managed, by
thrusting upwards into the
cockpit, to use his legs to
yank the stick and roll his
fighter upright – before
turning to fly straight back
into the dogfight.
Impressive as it was,
this alone wasn’t what
made Strange the first
of the ‘Teddies pilots’. In
fact, it was when, in 1912,
Strange roared past the
pupils below him, who stood stunned by the
sight of his airplane squeezing through the
narrow gap between the Chapel and Main
Building, that the ‘Teddies pilot’ was born.
Strange may have been the first
OSE pilot in the RAF to pull off such an
iconic stunt, but he would not be the
last. This combination of dare-devilry and
immeasurable bravery would shape the
legacy of the most famous of the Teddies
pilots who followed him: Douglas Bader.
However, whilst Strange managed to avoid
the risky consequence of his stunts, Bader’s
lost him both of his legs just three years
after leaving St Edward’s. Determined to
fly in defence of his country
in the summer of 1940,
Bader’s prosthetic legs would
accompany him into the cockpit
of his Hurricane. Bader would
go on to develop the ground-
breaking “Big Wing” strategy
that gave the RAF the critical
edge in the Battle of Britain.
242 Squadron, with Bader as
its leader, had claimed 62 Aerial
Victories against the Luftwaffe
by the time Bader was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross
‘for his services during the Battle of Britain’.
Bader’s heroic contribution to Britain’s
survival in the Battle of Britain would set
the stage for its ultimate victory over Nazi
Germany. However, as Winston Churchill
told the British nation, “
The Fighters are
our salvation but the Bombers alone provide
the means of victory
.” There is one bomber
pilot particularly worthy of remembrance
by an eternally grateful nation: Guy Gibson
and his Avro Lancaster. I will not attempt
to describe the story of the ‘Dambusters’
raid, as to do so would not give justice to
the awe-inspiring nature of the operation
Gibson commanded (depicted in the 1955
film of the same title). However, I think it
is worth noting something about Gibson’s
legacy as we celebrate the RAF: Gibson,
once again, was another courageous
trailblazer.
I have chosen to reflect on Strange,
Bader and Gibson because they are
famously, but not uniquely, trailblazing
and courageous pilots. They embody the
school’s collective legacy of nearly 400 OSE
that have served in the RAF.
The RAF has fascinated me for as long
as I can remember. The dozens of model
Spitfires, Hurricanes, and Typhoons I played
with as a child still have their spot on the
shelves in my bedroom. However, four
years ago when I lived in the US, the RAF
was never more than model planes and
films like
The Dambusters
and
The Battle of
Britain
. Looking back on my studies of the
RAF at this School, from debates with my
Shell history teacher about whether the
RAF or Luftwaffe fighter had the edge, to
my current EPQ on the Battle of Britain,
I could never have imagined how close to
the foundation of the RAF Teddies has
brought me.
Strange roared past
the pupils below him,
who stood stunned
by the sight of
his airplane squeezing
through the
narrow gap between
the Chapel and
Main Building
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