[3] His elder brother was banker, and aviator, Anthony Joseph Drexel III, and his only sister Margaretta was married to Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea.

[11][12] He also became only the 8th Aviator to receive an Aero Club of America pilot's licence, taking the test in his Gnôme engined Blériot monoplane.

[13] On August 12, 1910, he set the world altitude record of 6,595 feet in a Blériot monoplane In competition in Lanark, Scotland.

[18] He was subsequently commissioned Major in the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, serving until the end of the war in the United States Army Air Service.

[8] In 1934, Drexel served as a partner in the securities firm of William P. Bonbright & Co.,[19] along with August Belmont IV.