What's a St. Helens?
He was an engineer, flight trained and cleared for post-repair test flights. Not signed off for combat flying thanks to an eye injury, the result of a bird-strike in the open cockpit days of the R.F.C.
Apparently, Douglas Bader was very much a cunt. Gramps spent some time at Biggin hill, and the in joke at the time was...
'when are the hangar doors being widened so that Bader can fit his fucking head through them.'