Billy Drake, British ace in WWII, dies

Billy Drake, a British fighter ace whose daring and skill made him one of the Royal Air Force's most successful pilots of World War II, died Sunday, the Daily Telegraph of London reported. He was 93. The cause and location could not be confirmed.

Group Capt. Drake was credited with 24 1/2 aerial kills and he reportedly destroyed a dozen more enemy planes parked on the ground.

He harbored an interest in flight since a boyhood ride in a flying circus biplane. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Drake was sent to France, where he spent the first months of the war sitting idle. Drake scored his first victory against a German Messerschmitt fighter plane in the spring of 1940.

During another sortie not long after, he had to abandon formation after he realized his plane was not equipped with an oxygen supply for high-altitude flying. On the way back to base, he encountered several German Dornier bombers and attacked with his machine guns. He watched one bomber catch fire and crash.

Distracted, Drake didn't notice a German fighter swooping in behind him. Seconds later, his cockpit was engulfed in flames. He bailed out and landed in the countryside.

Badly wounded by shrapnel in his back and legs, he was taken to a hospital in France and then back to England. After recuperating, he flew reconnaissance missions over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain.

Many of his fellow pilots became casualties. "You accepted that they could be shot down, and if they were, bad bloody luck," he said. "That's war."