After completing flight training he was sent to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Returning to civilian life in 1946, he went back to New Zealand and joined an airline, the National Airways Corporation, flying passenger aircraft.

On 12 November, during an attack on an airfield at Valona, Albania, he destroyed a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero bomber on the ground.

IX Spitfires and flying one of these on 17 December, Schrader shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters off the coast of Albania.

Despite intense opposition he destroyed two enemy aircraft.In May 1944, Schrader was taken off flight operations and transferred to Egypt, where he performed instructing duties at No.

[4] However, with the war in the Middle East now over, many pilots, Schrader among them, soon returned to England to be posted to units in Europe.

[7][9] As the Allies advanced into Germany, Schrader shot down a series of enemy aircraft in over a three-week period,[4] beginning with a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on 10 April while patrolling near Nienburg.

[10] He destroyed two more Fw 190s on 15 April in one of the squadron's most successful engagements, with eight enemy aircraft shot down that day during a single patrol.

[13] Now in the rank of squadron leader, Schrader destroyed two more Bf 109s on 29 April over the Lauenburg bridgehead with another damaged, and on the same sortie, he also shot down a Fw 190.

With minimal time to familiarise himself with the Meteor, he destroyed three aircraft on the ground in the Kiel area the next day.

He flew a total of six sorties in the Meteor before the conflict in Germany ended and he was unable to add to his score.

He has proved himself to be a skilful, resolute and courageous fighter and has inflicted much damage on enemy targets on the ground.

616 Squadron, he was one of the first Allied pilots to fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet-fighter although it crashed when he landed it at Lübeck, due to faulty undercarriage.

[2] Returning to New Zealand and civilian life in mid–1946, Schrader became a pilot for the National Airways Corporation (NAC), flying passenger aircraft.

[19] He was one of the pilots that flew the Fokker F27 Friendship that the NAC provided for Queen Elizabeth II's use during her tour of New Zealand in March 1970.