Billy Drake
British flying ace
Died when: 93 years 251 days (1124 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Group Captain Billy Drake, DSO, DFC & Bar (20 December 1917 – 28 August 2011) was a British fighter pilot and air ace.He 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.
Further revisions to these statistics increased this total to 20 destroyed and seven damaged with a further 13 destroyed and four damaged on the ground.
Drake flew Hawker Hurricanes, Supermarine Spitfires and Curtiss P-40s (Tomahawks/Kittyhawks), with squadrons based in France, England, West Africa, North Africa and Malta.
He was the top-scoring RAF P-40 pilot and the second-highest-scoring British Commonwealth P-40 pilot, behind Clive Caldwell.
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