Legless wonders

Thank’s formite’s

Interesting stuff!! 😉

I was trying to find some legless Yank’s ? as the huge number’s that served.

The German’s told Bader, zt would not allowed in Chermany 😀

Anyway that’s all folk’s 🙂

Oooooo Rooooo

Postwar but still historic…
Frank Tallman: film pilot, aerial director (Catch 22, Murphy’s War), early warbird collector, former USN aviator.

After he lost his leg in the mid 60s, (in a go cart mishap) his partner Paul Mantz then had to take over the flying job for the ill-fated Flight of the Phoenix film.
He eventually re-established all of his FAA certificates (SE, ME, Helicopter, LTA, seaplane, etc, etc)..something that had not been done before.

Does Hughie Idwal Edwards qualify?

No, not quite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughie_Edwards

In August 1938, Edwards was piloting a Blenheim near the Scottish border when he flew into a storm at 2,300 metres. When the ailerons froze, the aircraft was forced down to 1,600 metres and Edwards ordered the navigator and rear gunner to bale out of the aircraft. Down to 230 metres, he made an effort to jump clear, but his parachute became entangled with the bomber’s radio mast pylon. In the ensuing crash, he sustained head injuries and a badly broken leg, which was only saved after extensive surgery. Due to the accident, he was declared unfit for flying duties until April 1940, when he was posted to No. 139 Squadron for active service due to the outbreak of war.

In 1966 his wife, Cherry, died and in 1972 he married Dorothy Carew Berrick. The pair were said to complement each other well, as Dorothy limped on her left leg after being knocked over by a car on a crosswalk in Sydney in 1970, while Edwards limped with his right after his flying accident in 1938.

I’d not heard of a ‘lost’ leg, which is why I checked. While he kept his leg, it’s clear he sucessfully battled some major physical challenges, so good call.

Does Hughie Idwal Edwards qualify? He was Strine, and Station Master at Wattisham in early/mid 1950’s. I think he only had one leg, and certainly flew!
HTH
Resmoroh

Roberts Dunstan was sent to the Middle East as a sapper and lost a leg after being wounded by a shell splinter just before the siege on Tobruk. He had lied about his age to get into the army, and was now facing a life with one leg, having barely experienced his ‘great adventure’. Subsequently he badgered the RAAF until they accepted him as an air gunner, in the best Bader tradition.

He flew as a Lancaster rear gunner with 467 Sqn, preferring to leave his aluminium leg on the ground, as it was easier to crawl around the aircraft. He also had more room in the turret than other gunners!

He therefore filled his hollow legs with ping-pong balls to provide floatation

Its a good job he never had to test them out, I have a funny feeling he may have floated up-side down.

Colin Hodgkinson…He lost his legs in a midair collision (on approach I think) whilst training to be a Fleet Air Arm pilot (not his fault…I think he was ‘under the hood’ at the time).
He managed to be accepted as a pilot cadet for the RAF and got his wings,becoming a fighter pilot.
He did write an autobiography titled ‘best foot forward’,it is a good read !

regards baz

Was he the same pilot that I read about ??

When flying Seafires, he was always worried that, should he get shot down and have to parachute into the briny, his hollow legs would fill with water and drag him under.

He therefore filled his hollow legs with ping-pong balls to provide floatation – but one day, flying at altitude he heard a ‘rat tatatat…..’ and thought he was being attacked.

Turns out it was his ping-pong balls exploding due to the thin air….. 😮

Ken

Just wondering who your English wonders are. i am assuming Bader is one,
but was wondering who the other was.

Johnnie

Colin Hodgkinson…He lost his legs in a midair collision (on approach I think) whilst training to be a Fleet Air Arm pilot (not his fault…I think he was ‘under the hood’ at the time).
He managed to be accepted as a pilot cadet for the RAF and got his wings,becoming a fighter pilot.
He did write an autobiography titled ‘best foot forward’,it is a good read !

regards baz

Just wondering who your English wonders are. i am assuming Bader is one,
but was wondering who the other was.

I know 296 Squadron at Earls Colne had a high ranking officer (I think
he may have even been the Squadron CO) who had at least one
leg missing, and I am sure at a squadron reunion (not 296) a while back
i met an old chap who had lost at least one leg and went back on ops.

Johnnie

Well apparently a lot of people got “legless” at the old Stork Hotel.

:diablo: