Incredible story of WWII Spitfire hero with both legs amputated who was captured then released by the Nazis before one last aerial victory over them
Flight Lieutenant Colin Hodgkinson spent ten months in Stalag Luft after crashing during mission over France
THE REMARKABLE story of a World War Two pilot who became a Spitfire hero despite having both his legs amputated has come to light.
Flight Lieutenant Colin Hodgkinson lost his legs in a horror crash in a Tiger Moth in 1939 but went on to emulate Sir Douglas Bader and fly Spitfires in the RAF.
He was captured by the Germans after crash-landing in France in 1943 but the Nazis thought he was useless to the British war effort so let him go home.
It proved a costly mistake as the flyer immediately re-joined the RAF and went on to claim another aerial victory before the war was out.
Historian Mark Hillier has published the late Spitfire veteran's autobiography 60 years after it was penned.
He hopes the book, called Best Foot Forward, will shine a spotlight on a man whose courage he says was every bit as great as Bader’s.
Of the 1939 accident that saw him lose two legs he wrote: "Flying? I thought I had done with it.
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"To prove to myself that I could still be a man among men I had to get into the war, and in a fighting role.
"If Bader could fly, I told myself, so could Hodgkinson."
His determination paid off and by September 1942 he was back behind the controls of a Spitfire, writing: "I approached Tiger Moth No. DE197 like an ex-alcoholic taking his first whisky after a successful cure.
"'Now, you b*****d,' I muttered, 'We'll see who's going to be the master round here'."
Like Bader, Colin's Spitfire was not modified in any way so he had to swing his hips to use the rudders.
His first aerial victory in April 1943 saw him shoot down a German fighter over Brighton.
But in November 1943, during a reconnaissance mission over France, his oxygen supply failed, causing him to crash in a field.
He was dragged from his burning Spitfire by two farm workers and later caught by the occupying forces who placed him in Stalag Luft III for the next 10 months.
But he was then repatriated as he was deemed 'no further use to his country' by his Nazi captors.
They had underestimated Colin who returned to the cockpit - going on to claim another victory before the war was out.
He spent his final years in France and died aged 76 in September 1996.
Best Foot Forward, by Colin Hodgkinson, is published by Pen & Sword.
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