Group Captain Billy Drake, DSO, DFC & Bar (20 December 1917 – 28 August 2011) was a British fighter pilot and air ace.

It is claimed that his father was a descendant of Francis Drake, the 16th Century explorer and naval commander who led an English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

[4] Drake was sent to Prior Park, a Catholic-run preparatory school, which was appropriated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1921.

Drake's father taught him to use a shotgun at the age of twelve, beginning his interest in marksmanship and shooting.

The family then moved to Switzerland and Drake completed his elementary education at the Kollegium Maria Hilf boarding school, run by German–Swiss Catholics.

[4] When 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.

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.

[6] In the summer, 1936, Drake stumbled across an advertisement in Aeroplane for applicants to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) on a Short Service Commission (SSC).

[6] Drake joined the RAF on a SSC in July 1936, having only just reached the minimal service age requirement of 17.

He was sent to Hamble in Hampshire to attend the Air Service Training (AST) unit and made his first flight, with instruction, on 14 July 1936.

Drake was granted £50 to purchase his uniform and other items from the Army and Navy Store on Victoria Street in the City of Westminster.

[7] On his return, Drake met Francis Ronald Swain who held the world altitude record and who later became his commanding officer.

On 19 May Drake completed gunnery training at Armament Practice Camp and was ready for a squadron posting.

[7] At 1 Squadron Drake became one of the unit's acrobatic pilots and gained experience in perfecting deflection shooting.

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.

A Leutnant Sievers was killed and the anonymous second pilot apparently ran out of fuel escaping from Drake, which the German record asserts as the cause of the crash.

The German forces occupied Luxembourg, invaded the Netherlands, and Belgium, part of the wider Battle of France.

[12] Fighter Command records list the victory clearly as a solo claim, filed at circa 05:00 near Verdun.

[12] The following day Drake was on a combat air patrol but was forced to leave his formation because of oxygen failure.

He 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.

The transfer earned Drake the distinction of being one of the so-called "Few" of Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain, which ended on 31 October 1940.

[2] On 13 November on patrol with Jim Crow and Pilot Officer James Eric "Jas" Storrar they were surprised by Bf 109s.

The citation, dated 20 December 1940, read, "In October this officer carried out reconnaissance which proved of great value.

Subsequently, in March 1942, Drake was ordered to Air HQ Middle East, based in Cairo.

The post served as training to allow Drake time to familiarise himself with the air tactics and the art of fighting and commanding in a desert environment.

[32] Drake remarked of the air war: With bombs slung underneath our aircraft and our attention focused largely on the ground, we could have been perceived as highly vulnerable.

[40] On 1 September 1942, a day in which the Desert Air Force suffered heavy losses, Drake claimed two Junkers Ju 87s.

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.

He later served as a staff officer and air attaché at British embassies, retiring from the RAF as a group captain on 1 July 1963.

1 Squadron in France in 1940, and includes the excavation of the crash site of the Hurricane he baled out off on 13 May (viewable in full in the UK here).