Ace Bader's game of two legs

Disabled fighter pilot Douglas Bader once changed a broken artificial legs during a game of squash, a war veteran's son said yesterday.

Michael Blackwood said Bader – who lost both legs in a flying accident –

was playing squash with his father, Battle of

Britain pilot Douglas Blackwood, during the Second World War.

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Mr Blackwood said his father had told how one of Bader artificial legs had broken during the game – and how Bader responded by going off court, strapping on a replacement, then returning to finish the game.

The pair were both based at Duxford near Cambridge during the Battle of Britain.

Mr Blackwood said the pilots were friends and squash partners. "My father flew with Bader.

He greatly admired him," said Mr Blackwood, 66, who lives near Braintree, Essex.

Mr Blackwood was speaking at the Imperial War Museum's aviation branch in Duxford near Cambridge.

He visited the museum to present curators with his father's medal collection.

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