Reckless charges into danger make for great action movie scenes, but not good battle strategy. Every great military mind can tell you that victory is all about knowing when to back down, to come back at a time when the advantage is in your favor.

5 Eric James Brindley Nicolson Keeps Flying -- and Fighting -- While on Fire

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

The Man:

In 1940, WWII was going badly for the British. They stood alone against Hitler, and Winston Churchill used every bit of his oratory talent to keep his people going. Famously, in his "This Was Their Finest Hour" speech, he swore the nation would fight to the last breath, if necessary, against the impending Nazi invasion.

Wikipedia

"I've discovered fascism's lone weakness: alcoholic courage."

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

Royal Air Force fighter pilot Eric J. B. Nicolson listened to every word, and boy did he take the advice to heart.

The Perseverance:

On August 16, 1940, Nicolson was part of an attack against German bombers that were trying their level best to relocate British soil into British atmosphere.

While swooping in on a formation of Nazi planes, he was suddenly strafed by a Messerschmitt fighter. The hail of cannon fire ripped up his Hurricane and wounded his legs.

Also, his cockpit was now on fire.

valka

That isn't a euphemism, but it probably should be.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

In pain, blinded by the blood from a gash in his forehead, and guided only by survival instinct (and probably also by the fact that the glass on his control panel instruments was starting to pop from the intense heat) Nicolson scrambled out of the cockpit to a section in the back of the plane where it was safe to bail out.

Then, just as he was about to jump to safety with his parachute, he saw the German plane that had hit him and remembered Churchill. Wounded and bleeding profusely, he climbed right back into the burning cockpit, brought the plane under control and went on the attack.