Blue plaque for war hero Bader.
Wartime hero and double amputee Sir Douglas Bader has been commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque.
Sir Douglas played a key role as a pilot during the Battle of Britain in World War II despite losing both legs in a flying accident in 1931.
Subsequently, he raised money for disabled people and worked to change attitudes towards amputees.
The plaque was unveiled on Sunday at the pilot's former home in Petersham Mews, Kensington, west London.
Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, a Bader family friend, attended the ceremony.
Sir Douglas lost his legs after an accident at Woodley airfield, Reading, in December 1931, while flying with the aerobatics team in a Bristol Bulldog.
He defied doctor's expectations by walking again using artificial legs and resumed his flying career in WWII.
Having shot down 23 enemy aircraft, Sir Douglas was captured by the Nazis in August 1941. He remained at the prison camp in Colditz until 1945.
Sir Douglas died in 1982, aged 72.
Following his death, friends and family set up the Douglas Bader Foundation to carry on his charitable work.
His son-in-law, David Bickers, who is chairman of the Douglas Bader Foundation, said his relative was an inspiration.
"He overcame his disability and even now when you see disabled people coming back from war, doing the marathon, doing some extraordinary activities, I feel pretty sure that somewhere in their backgrounds the name Douglas Bader is something where there's a referral point - he did it and we wish to continue that."
Mr Branson said: "I was very fortunate to have known Douglas Bader as a child since my Aunt Clare was perhaps his best friend.
"He used to sit on the lawn and tell us stories of how he'd escaped on so many occasions from prisoner of war camps in Germany until the Nazis finally confiscated his legs."
Mr Branson told the BBC that as a "nasty little boy" he would run off with Sir Douglas's legs, requiring the airman to come "on his hands, screaming after me".
Mr Branson also he could not think of anyone he knew who was more deserving of a having a blue plaque erected.
"His whole story was real Boy's Own hero stuff, and I think Britain needs more heroes," he said.
"I was very privileged to get to know him, and always had enormous admiration for what he'd achieved, and was very fortunate to be able to know him as a friend."
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL (21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.
Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments.
In August 1941, Bader bailed out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace. The circumstances surrounding how Bader was shot down in 1941 are controversial. Recent research strongly suggests he was a victim of friendly fire. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.
Bader left the RAF permanently in February 1946 and resumed his career in the oil industry. During the 1950s, a book and a film, Reach for the Sky, chronicled his life and RAF career to the end of the Second World War. Bader campaigned for the disabled and in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1976 was appointed a Knight Bachelor "for services to disabled people" and continued to fly until ill health forced him to stop in 1979. Three years later, at the age of 72, Bader died on 5 September 1982, after a heart attack.