Kemble Pitts,
Your mentioning of Reach for the Sky is apposite here. I think Paul Brickhill, and the films made from his books, has a lot to answer for here. I read both 'Reach for the sky' and 'The Dambusters' avidly when young, and it was that image of a pleasant, friendly, cheerful good natured, popular guy that he painted of both Bader and Gibson that has become the problem. The rude awakening that I had on the two occasions that I met Bader were a shock, though by then I had heard rumours, but still I retained the impression gained from the book, and subsequent film. The reality was a harsh shock. And not just for the way he treated me, but how I saw him treat others around him, especially females and the lowly in rank and status. I heard similar tales of Gibson from a family relative who met him at Woodhall Spa and Coningsby in 1944.
Then we have the problem that the myth created by both book and film are built on by propaganda, and when you try to present reality and truth, you are met by cries of revisionist!