Bryan Draper

Bryan Vincent Draper DFC (1916 – 28 February 1945) was a British flying ace of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) during the Second World War.

[2] Educated at Whitgift School in Croydon in London, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in April 1938.

[1][3] As a serving member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Draper was called up for service soon after the outbreak of the Second World War.

12 Group in mid-August, operating from Wittering in Cambridgeshire but shifted to Coltishall the next month and was heavily engaged in intercepting the Luftwaffe's bombing raids on London.

[6] On 14 September, after an unsuccessful engagement with a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter, he shot down a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber near Yarmouth 20 minutes later.

On the 17th of that month, during an encounter over Gravesend, he shot down a Bf 109, the pilot of which was made a prisoner of war, and had another of the same type reported as probably destroyed.

He had to crash land near Sevenoaks as a result of the encounter, his Spitfire having received gunfire to its engine during the dogfight over south London.

The citation, published in The London Gazette, read: Since December, 1939, Pilot Officer Draper has participated in numerous engagements against the enemy.

He has shown great skill and determination as a fighter pilot and has destroyed seven enemy aircraft.Once his training course was completed, Draper performed instructing duties at the Royal Air Force College near Cranwell.