"The Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command at that time was Air Chief Marshal Sir William Sholto Douglas KCB MC DFC, later to become Marshal of the RAF, Lord Douglas of Kirtleside.

The mention of Sholto Douglas reminds me that when he was appointed C-in-C, he made the extraordinary statement that in his opinion a fighter pilot over the age of 25 was senile.

That, of course, was a rather stupid statement, which I am sure he must have regretted making, especially when one remembers that Harry Broadhurst, Victor Beamish, Sailor Malan, Ronald Kellett, Douglas Bader, and so on, were all over 30 years old. Johnnie Johnson, who was to become the RAF´s top scoring fighter pilot in Europe, was himself 26 in 1941."

From Spitfire Offensive by Wing Commander RWF Sampson with Norman Franks

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