Rare and Possibly Unique Royal Air Force Fighter Command Serial Message Report Sent on 12th August 1941, Reporting That Wing Commander Douglas Bader was Missing Whilst on Operations, the typed message describes the action in which the famous RAF fighter pilot Douglas Bader was shot down, ‘W/Cmdr. Bader is missing from a recent daylight offensive over Northern France. 11 Me’s were destroyed by pilots in that operation, 4 of them by a squadron which formed part of a wing led by Bader. The W/Cdr went into action with this squadron. 1 pilot who destroyed one of the Me’s said to-day We saw about 12 Me’s below us, and my section went down to attack. We dived on them, firing our guns, and then, as we turned, to make another attack, we saw 30 or more Me’s pelting down on top of us, and we were all mixed up in a most chaotic dog-fight. It was in that fight that W/Cmdr. Bader went down. I don’t think any of us saw him hit, but when the position cleared Bader was not with us. I have never seen so many Jerrys from a reception committee in a daylight offensive over France as greeted us that day’. The document has some corrections in pencil and is signed in pencil W. Cunningham a c to the bottom. Top of the document has typed F/LT MACKENZIE, we can only assume that this was his report which was sent to headquarters of fighter command. One small punch hole mark to the corner and rust stain from a staple. The document is accompanied by another two page typed serial message with corrections in relation to RAF flying ace Wing Commander Geoffrey Goodman DFC who flew Mosquito fighter aircraft with distinction. This document is dated 1944 and like the Bader document has official corrections made. Group is accompanied by three other official typed serial messages. (5 documents in total)Sir Douglas Bader is probably one of the most famous fighter pilots in the history of the RAF, not just because of the amount of aerial victories he had achieved, but because of his story of overcoming adversity. In December 1931, he was doing aerobatics in an aircraft which crashed and he lost both of his legs as a result of the accident. Not to be put off by this, Bader was given prosthetic legs and he managed to continue to serve in the RAF and flew operationally during the second world war. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, 4 shared and 6 probable victories. Bader served in the early actions of the war with the RAF, including the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. In 1941 he was shot down and had to bail out over Northern France. He was captured and sent to a Prisoner of War camp. Bader was a determined man and as a result he made numerous escape attempts from captivity. He was such a problem to the Luftwaffe, that he was eventually sent to Colditz Castle prisoner of war camp where he remained until liberated in 1945.