Bader’s Spitfire may be under that lake! You can’t draw any definate conclusions until that avenue has been explored !
I never met Bader or Casson, so like many here I only have the facts infront of me . . .one 109 accounted for by Nip Hepple and one ‘109’ accounted for by Casson – the loss described perfectly the way Bader was lost. My G*d I think if you take away ALL the what’s and if’s and maybe’s it is pretty obvious what happened.
Casson shot Bader down. Bader, (Mega Legend), can’t live it down and snubs Casson . . .now listen guys there may be another theory . . .bare with me . . .
In Brian Kingcome’s book ‘A Willingness To Die’ he describes a deliberate friendly-fire episode in 1941 of a Spitfire pilot on his Wing Commander, also in a Spitfire, and who was generally despised. Back in 1967 this caused a massive tabloid storm but in his book Kingcome (to his credit and my frustration) never disclosed the identity of those pilots . . .is it at all possible that Bader was knocked down by ‘other means’?
I generally find an open mind is the key to most locked doors to mysteries unsolved.
I can’t find for the life of me the identity of that Wing Commander, or the junior pilot. Maybe it was Bader, and . . . ?
As an aside – absolutely cracking programme, and I certainly feel more in awe of Bader after hearing that brave Fireman describe how walking with false legs is ‘like walking on ice with NO feeling whatsoever underneath’ . . . Bader did that AND flew a fighter aircraft in battle. Awsome.
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