"Best Foot Forward" by Somerset born Colin Hodgkinson. The autobiography of the RAF's other legless fighter pilot of World War Two.

I recently read Colin Hodgkinson’s autobiography Best Foot Forward (Odhams Press Limited, London. 1957).  The story of the RAF’s other legless fighter pilot of World War Two.

Hodgkinson was born in Somerset in 1920 and grew up on the Mendip Hills.  He lost both legs after a flying accident in early 1939 while training to be a naval pilot. 

Inspired partly by Douglas Bader, the RAF’s legendary legless fighter pilot, Hodgkinson transferred to the RAF early in the war with the aim of fulfilling his ambition to fly in combat.

He eventually flew Spitfires under the command of some of the RAF’s most successful leaders, including the renowned “Johnnie” Johnson.

By November 1943 he was a flight commander in 501 Squadron when the oxygen supply failed in his Spitfire during a high altitude weather reconnaissance mission over France.  His aircraft crashed and he was so badly injured that he was repatriated to Britain.

As he was being transported on a stretcher across Germany on route to Sweden, he witnessed the lynching of four US airmen by a crowd in a railway station.  He feared he would be next if the vengeful mob saw his uniform.  Luckily for him his uniform and stretcher was covered by a blanket.

After the war Hodgkinson flew jets with 501 and 604 Squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

In 1957 he appeared on the BBC’s This is Your Life - before the famed Douglas Bader.

The book is a remarkable story of courage and determination. It also includes his account of an eventful family life on and around the Mendip Hills between the two world wars.

It is well worth reading.