1. Billy Drake was credited officially with 18 enemy aircraft destroyed, two shared, two unconfirmed, four probables, two shared probables and five damaged and one shared damaged with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
55 Facts About Billy Drake
1. 2.
Billy Drake was the top-scoring RAF P-40 pilot and the second-highest-scoring British Commonwealth P-40 pilot, behind Clive Caldwell.
3.
Billy Drake was born in London, to Gerda Browne and Dr Dennis John Billy Drake on 20 December 1917.
4.
Billy Drake was christened as such soon after birth; he was not given the name William.
5.
Billy Drake's father traded and travelled around the southern Pacific and his infant son accompanied him to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and ultimately Tangiers in Morocco where Billy Drake senior set up a clinic.
6.
Billy Drake began school at the Lycee Regnault until the family moved to England.
7.
Billy Drake was sent to Prior Park, a Catholic-run preparatory school, which was appropriated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1921.
8.
Billy Drake's father taught him to use a shotgun at the age of twelve, beginning his interest in marksmanship and shooting.
9.
Billy Drake was one of the few English pupils at the school which was dominated by Italians and Germans.
10.
When Billy Drake returned to England the threat of future war was present, a consequence of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini's aggressive foreign policies, and he began to contemplate a military career.
11.
Billy Drake had visited Alan Cobham's Flying Circus as a small boy in the twenties and spent half a crown on a twenty-minute flight.
12.
Billy Drake decided to pursue a career as a military aviator, encouraged by a subscription to The Aeroplane.
13.
Billy Drake's parents were adamantly opposed to his career path.
14.
Billy Drake overcame his parents' opposition through his own misreading of the advertisement, which he read to be an annuity not a gratuity.
15.
Billy Drake returned after three months and passed the second test.
16.
Billy Drake joined the RAF on a SSC in July 1936, having only just reached the minimal service age requirement of 17.
17.
Billy Drake was sent to Hamble in Hampshire to attend the Air Service Training unit and made his first flight, with instruction, on 14 July 1936.
18.
Billy Drake was sent to RAF Uxbridge as a Pilot Officer on probation, and there he learned parade and drill.
19.
On his return, Billy Drake met Francis Ronald Swain who held the world altitude record and who later became his commanding officer.
20.
Billy Drake flew the Hawker Audax and Hawker Fury from 2 February 1937.
21.
Billy Drake joined No 1 Squadron that same day at RAF Tangmere.
22.
At 1 Squadron Billy Drake became one of the unit's acrobatic pilots and gained experience in perfecting deflection shooting.
23.
On 29 August 1938 Billy Drake flew a Gloster Gladiator for the first time.
24.
Billy Drake ferried various aircraft to flying schools and when picking up a Hurricane from Brooklands, he received a personal brief by test pilot Dickie Reynell, who was killed in action in 1940.
25.
On 11 January 1939 Billy Drake was permitted to fire the guns for the first time, in contravention of pre-war stringency.
26.
Fighter Command records list only one claim for Billy Drake made over Thionville.
27.
Billy Drake scrambled with B Flight and, with Flying Officer Boy Mould, claimed a Heinkel He 111 each.
28.
Billy Drake's records indicate he was credited with only a shared victory.
29.
Billy Drake stated there was little he could do, "so we pissed off".
30.
Billy Drake was wounded by splinters in the leg and back.
31.
Billy Drake was operated on to repair the damage and evacuated to Paris, then Le Mans and finally was flown back to England in a Fairey Battle.
32.
Billy Drake returned to duty on 20 June 1940 as a flying instructor to No 6 Operational Training Unit, at RAF Sutton Bridge during the Battle of Britain.
33.
Billy Drake made repeated requests to be returned to operational duty.
34.
Billy Drake engaged hostile aircraft on six occasions and flew only Hurricanes.
35.
Billy Drake volunteered for No 421 Flight RAF with Spitfires, flying specialised low-level reconnaissance patrols over the English Channel and the French Channel coast.
36.
On 20 November 1940, Billy Drake claimed a Do 17 damaged at 09:00 near Calais, France.
37.
Billy Drake has at all times displayed fine qualities of leadership and perseverance.
38.
On 7 January 1941 Billy Drake claimed a Junkers Ju 88 damaged plus another shared damaged with one other pilot.
39.
Billy Drake moved to No 53 Operational Training Unit with the rank of Squadron Leader under the command of Ira Jones, at RAF Heston and as Chief Flying Instructor at RAF Llandow until 3 September 1941.
40.
Billy Drake was posted to West Africa to form and command No 128 Squadron RAF at Hastings, Sierra Leone.
41.
Billy Drake intercepted the unarmed aircraft, which was probably on a reconnaissance flight.
42.
Billy Drake flew alongside and motioned to the pilot to land.
43.
Park and Billy Drake had met before and upon learning Billy Drake was commanding 128 Squadron, he requested that the Squadron Leader be sent out to Egypt as a member of his staff.
44.
Subsequently, in March 1942, Billy Drake was ordered to Air HQ Middle East, based in Cairo.
45.
Billy Drake regarded the orientation to close air support as a time-consuming adjustment.
46.
Billy Drake learned to attack in a 35 to 40-degree dive and practiced strafing.
47.
On 1 September 1942, a day in which the Desert Air Force suffered heavy losses, Billy Drake claimed two Junkers Ju 87s.
48.
Billy Drake probably shot down Unteroffizier Karl Konning, piloting Werknummer 7334 from 3.
49.
Billy Drake was awarded a Bar to the DFC on 28 July 1942 and the Distinguished Service Order on 4 December 1942.
50.
In November 1943, Billy Drake returned to England and commanded No 20 Wing RAF, operating Hawker Typhoons with the Second Tactical Air Force.
51.
Billy Drake was later sent on liaison duties to Fort Leavenworth in the United States.
52.
Billy Drake later served as deputy station commander at RAF Biggin Hill, and finished the war as a staff officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.
53.
Billy Drake later served as a staff officer and air attache at British embassies, retiring from the RAF as a group captain on 1 July 1963.
54.
Billy Drake was twice married and was survived by two sons from his first marriage.
55.
In 2004 Billy Drake was the subject of a documentary in the BBC Two Ancestors series.