Billy Drake 1 Squadron
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Billy Drake 1 Squadron
Did anyone else see the Ancestors programme on BBC2 today? It gave a brief, but fascinating, history of 1 Squadron in France in 1939/40. It is one of the few programmes which concentrated on the Hurricane.
I didn't realise that Billy Drake had so many 'kills' and decorations for gallantry. He was extremely interesting to listen to and seems such a nice, sensible, modest man.
The French village where he was shot down in 1940 gave him a champagne reception when he returned recently to search for the wreckage of his Hurricane.
His life had been saved by armour plating which his squadron had fitted in the aircraft against regulations!
I didn't realise that Billy Drake had so many 'kills' and decorations for gallantry. He was extremely interesting to listen to and seems such a nice, sensible, modest man.
The French village where he was shot down in 1940 gave him a champagne reception when he returned recently to search for the wreckage of his Hurricane.
His life had been saved by armour plating which his squadron had fitted in the aircraft against regulations!
It was on Australian TV last week. I taped it but the VCR is now on the fritz so I haven't been able to play it back yet.
Recall from Paul Ritchie's book Fighter Pilot that the armour plate came from wrecked Battles and was installed against the advice of the experts. IIRC their concerns about the effect on CoG were dispelled by the CO (Hallahan?) doing low level aeros with the plate in place.
Recall from Paul Ritchie's book Fighter Pilot that the armour plate came from wrecked Battles and was installed against the advice of the experts. IIRC their concerns about the effect on CoG were dispelled by the CO (Hallahan?) doing low level aeros with the plate in place.
