Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond | |
|---|---|
 Air Vice-Marshal Drummond in the Middle East, 1940 | |
| Born | 2 June 1894 Perth, Western Australia |
| Died | 27 March 1945(1945-03-27) (aged 50) |
| Allegiance | Australia United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Air Force |
| Service years | 1914–45 |
| Rank | Air Marshal |
| Unit | No. 1 Squadron AFC (1917) |
| Commands | No. 145 Squadron RAF (1918–19) No. 111 Squadron RAF (1919) RAF Tangmere (1931–33) RAF Northolt (1936–37) Air Member for Training (1943–45) |
| Battles / wars |
|
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order &Bar Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross Mentioned in Despatches (3) Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) |
Air MarshalSir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond,KCB, DSO &Bar, OBE, MC (2 June 1894 – 27 March 1945) was an Australian-born senior commander in theRoyal Air Force (RAF). He rose fromprivate soldier in World War I to air marshal in World War II. Drummond enlisted in theAustralian Imperial Force in 1914 and the following year saw service as amedical orderly during theGallipoli campaign. He joined theRoyal Flying Corps in 1916 and became afighter ace in theMiddle Eastern theatre, where he was awarded theMilitary Cross and theDistinguished Service Order andBar. Transferring to the RAF on its formation in 1918, he remained in the British armed forces for the rest of his life.
Between the wars, Drummond saw action in the Sudan—earning appointment as anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire—and was posted to Australia on secondment to theRoyal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as Director of Operations and Intelligence. In Britain, he commanded RAF stationsTangmere andNortholt. Rankedair commodore at the outbreak of World War II, he was Air MarshalSir Arthur Tedder's Deputy Air Officer Commanding-in-ChiefRAF Middle East from 1941 to 1943. Drummond was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath in 1941 for his services in the Middle East, andknighted in the same order two years later. He was twice offered command of the RAAF during the war but the RAF was unwilling to release him to take up the position. Britain'sAir Member for Training from 1943, Drummond waskilled in a plane crash at sea in 1945.
Drummond was born on 2 June 1894 inPerth, Western Australia, to merchant John Maxwell Drummond and his wife Caroline (née Lockhart). Registered as Roy Maxwell Drummond, he acquired the nickname "Peter" during his schooling atScotch College, and formally adopted it as his first name in 1943.[1][2] He served in thecadets and worked as a bankclerk before enlisting in theAustralian Imperial Force on 10 September 1914.[1]
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At 5 ft 7in (171 cm) in height, Drummond was judged too slight of build for theinfantry and was instead assigned to the 2nd Stationary Hospital of theAustralian Army Medical Corps as anorderly.[1] By December 1914, when his unit sailed for Egypt, Drummond was rankedcorporal.[3] He was sent toGallipoli in April 1915 and served on ahospital ship, assisting surgeons in operations on the wounded. Drummond was evacuated to England later that year, suffering fromdysentery. In December, he applied for a transfer to the BritishRoyal Flying Corps (RFC) and was discharged from the Australian Army in April 1916.[1]
Following pilot training in the United Kingdom, Drummond received the rank of temporarysecond lieutenant and was posted to Egypt, where he was assigned toNo. 1 Squadron,Australian Flying Corps (numbered 67 Squadron RFC by the British).[1][4] During theSinai and Palestine campaign, he took part in the air assaults that preceded theBattle of Magdhaba on 23 December 1916. He later wrote, "The day before the Magdhaba battle, the whole crowd of us with all the bombs we could carry, went out. You couldn't see the place for smoke after we had left ... The Turks were retreating all the time and we had great sport coming down to about 50 feet and peppering them with machine guns ..."[5] On 20 March 1917, Drummond, flying aRoyal Aircraft Factory B.E.2, was one of two pilots who strafed enemy troops threatening LieutenantFrank McNamara as he rescued a downed Australian airman, the action for which McNamara was awarded hisVictoria Cross.[6]
Drummond was awarded theMilitary Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" on 20 April 1917, when he and LieutenantAdrian Cole engaged and drove off six enemy aircraft that were attempting to bomb Allied cavalry; the award was promulgated inThe London Gazette on 16 August.[7][8] Drummond was promoted to temporarylieutenant on 1 May 1917.[9] Later that month he was appointed aflight commander in No. 1 Squadron, with the temporary rank ofcaptain.[10][11] He joinedNo. 111 Squadron RFC as a flight commander and temporary captain in October.[1][12] On 12 December, he and his observer were escorting two Australian aircraft in aBristol Fighter nearTul Karem, Palestine, when they were spotted by three GermanAlbatros scouts. Drummond attacked and destroyed all three of the enemy aircraft.[12] This achievement earned him theDistinguished Service Order for his "great skill and daring";[1][13] the award was promulgated on 26 March 1918.[14]
On 27 March 1918, again near Tul Karem, Drummond and another pilot scrambled to attack a German scout. As his wingman dealt with the intruder, Drummond, flying aNieuport, single-handedly engaged six other German aircraft that had suddenly appeared. According to his own account, after he had destroyed one and "sent another down in a spin", Drummond developed engine trouble and had to land behind enemy lines. Finding his engine firing again, he took off before he could be captured by Turkish troops and gained a start over the four still-circling German scouts, "who had also concluded that the fight was over". He was forced to land three more times in enemy territory—once in a cavalry camp where he "carried away a line full of washing" with hisundercarriage in his escape—before he shook off all but one of the pursuing fighters and landed safely behind Allied lines.[12] He was awarded aBar to his DSO on 26 July for his "gallant and successful" actions.[1][15]
The RFC merged with theRoyal Naval Air Service to form theRoyal Air Force (RAF) on 1 April 1918.[16][17] Drummond was given command ofNo. 145 Squadron RAF, which operatedRoyal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 fighters, in July 1918,[1][18] and was made an actingmajor on 2 September.[19] He finished the war anace, credited with eight victories,[20][21][22] and wasmentioned in despatches on 5 June 1919.[23][24]
Drummond remained in the RAF following World War I, holding command of No. 111 Squadron in 1919,[10] and receiving his permanent commission as an acting captain on 1 August that year.[25] He was based in the Sudan from January to July 1920,[26] as part of Britain's system of "control without occupation", using aircraft instead of armies to put down local rebellions. As actingsquadron leader, Drummond commanded "H" Unit, the entire complement of which consisted of two aircraft.[27] Returning to Britain, he was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire on 22 July 1921 in recognition of his "excellent work" in the face of "adverse conditions", conducting a successful reconnaissance and bombing campaign againstGarjak Nuer tribesmen.[1][28] He enteredRAF Staff College, Andover, in 1922.[10]
On 1 January 1923, Drummond was promoted to squadron leader; he graduated from Andover the same year.[1][29] Also in 1923, he proposed an officer exchange scheme for the RAF and the newly formedRoyal Australian Air Force (RAAF).[26] Following a staff posting to theAir Ministry, he was seconded to the RAAF in 1925, serving four years as Director of Operations and Intelligence at Air Force Headquarters,Melbourne.[1][30] He married Isabel Drake-Brockman, cousin of Brigadier GeneralEdmund Drake-Brockman, at St John's Anglican Church inToorak, Victoria, on 17 July 1929; the couple had a son and two daughters.[1][31] Drummond returned to the UK in November that year.[32] He studied at theImperial Defence College, London, in 1930,[1] and was promotedwing commander on 1 July 1931.[33] From November 1931 to June 1933, he commandedRAF Tangmere, a fighter base.[34][35] After Tangmere, Drummond spent three years at the Air Ministry.[1] In September 1936 he assumed command ofRAF Northolt.[36] While in charge of Northolt he was promoted togroup captain on 1 January 1937.[1][37] That November, Drummond was appointed senior air staff officer (SASO) atRAF Middle East in Cairo.[38][39] He was raised toair commodore on 1 July 1939.[40]
At the outbreak of World War II, Drummond was still SASO RAF Middle East.[41] In early 1940 he became involved in preparations forOperation Pike, an Anglo-French plan to bomb oil fields in theCaucasus; theSoviet Union was at this time seen as allied toNazi Germany, in the wake of theinvasion of Poland and theWinter War. Drummond led a delegation toAleppo, Syria, to discuss Turkey's defence again possible German or Russian attack. He planned to operate British aircraft out of French bases in northern Syria if Pike went ahead.[42] Drummond was made an actingair vice-marshal on 19 June 1940,[43] and temporary air vice-marshal on 10 January the next year.[44] On 1 June 1941, he was raised to actingair marshal and appointed DeputyAir Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) RAF Middle East, following Air MarshalSir Arthur Tedder's elevation to AOC-in-C.[45][46] TheAustralian Dictionary of Biography credits Tedder and Drummond with developing their command as "a mobile strike-force capable of co-operating fully with the other two services", and Tedder later remarked on the importance of his deputy's contribution to the Allied victory in North Africa.[1] Tedder's biographer,Vincent Orange, contended that "Tedder's growing eminence ... owes a great deal to Drummond's wise and dedicated support".[47]
Drummond considered the Middle East a "Battle for Airfields", as whichever side held the Mediterranean landing grounds could protect its shipping at the expense of the enemy's.[48] AdmiralSir Andrew Cunningham found Drummond "a thorough non-cooperator" but Drummond's assistant,Arthur Lee, described him as "a refreshing man to work with ... without pose or frills, serious, but with a sense of humour nearly as irreverent and sarcastic as Tedder's".[49] Drummond was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath on 24 September 1941 "in recognition of distinguished services rendered in operational commands of the Royal Air Force" from 1 October 1940 to 31 March 1941.[50] His temporary rank of air vice-marshal was made substantive on 14 April 1942.[51]
In early 1942 the Australian government sought Drummond for the position ofChief of the Air Staff (CAS) of the RAAF, to succeed Air Chief MarshalSir Charles Burnett, RAF, at the completion of the latter's two-year term.[52][53] Australia'sHigh Commissioner to the United Kingdom,Stanley Bruce, had recommended Drummond in a cable to Prime MinisterJohn Curtin on 5 February.[52] Although the British government was initially supportive of the plan, the Air Ministry eventually declined to release Drummond from his role in the Middle East, partly to avoid disruption to the region's command and also because it did not believe that Drummond's operational abilities would be put to sufficient use in the largely administrative role of CAS.[54] Drummond himself was reportedly dubious about the appointment because of the division of authority between RAAF Headquarters and Allied Air Force Headquarters,South West Pacific Area (SWPA).[55]
Burnett had recommended his deputy, Air Vice-MarshalWilliam Bostock, for CAS but in May 1942 the position went to acting Air CommodoreGeorge Jones. Bostock in turn became Air Officer CommandingRAAF Command, Australia's main operational organisation under SWPA. An ongoing conflict between Jones (now promoted air vice-marshal) and Bostock led to moves in April 1943 to bring in an officer senior to both men to head the RAAF in a unified command structure, and Drummond was once more approached by the Australian government. Drummond had indicated that he was happy to serve in Australia but the Air Ministry again refused to release him, having selected him for a seat on theAir Council as Air Member for Training.[56][57]
Drummond succeeded Air MarshalSir Guy Garrod as Air Member for Training on 27 April 1943.[58] He was raised to temporary air marshal on 1 June 1943, and appointed aKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath in theKing's Birthday Honours the following day.[59][60] Drummond's position on the Air Council included administering theEmpire Air Training Scheme, making him partly responsible for the serious oversupply of aircrew that was apparent by 1944; Drummond believed that the situation would be counteracted only if the upcominginvasion of Europe led to heavy casualties.[1] He remained an advocate of close cooperation between the RAF andDominion air forces; theAdelaideAdvertiser quoted him as saying, "Daily journeying to my London office ... I make a point of passing theBoomerang Club atAustralia House just for the pleasure and gratification of swapping a salute and a 'good day' with some of the best air crew in the world—the RAAF."[61]
On 27 March 1945, Drummond wasen route to Canada with other dignitaries to attend a ceremony marking the closure of the Empire Air Training Scheme. His plane, aB-24 Liberator nicknamedCommando that was formerly the personal transport ofWinston Churchill, disappeared near theAzores and all aboard were presumed killed.[1][62] Frank McNamara, now an RAAF air vice-marshal based in England and a close friend, broke the news to Drummond's widow.[63] Air MarshalSir Roderic Hill succeeded Drummond as Air Member for Training.[64]
Drummond was survived by his wife and three children.[1] A memorial service for the victims of the Azores flight was held atSt Martin-in-the-Fields on 8 May 1945.[65][66] Drummond was twice mentioned in despatches for his service in World War II, on 11 June 1942,[67] and on 19 September 1946 (for his performance as SASO RAF Middle East in 1940–41).[68] On 3 May 1946, he was posthumously granted permission to wear the award ofCommander of the Order of the Phoenix, conferred by theKingdom of Greece.[69] Tedder wrote in 1948 that Drummond as Deputy AOC-in-C Middle East "bore so much of the burden and took so little of the credit";[70] Vincent Orange observed that the two commanders remained friends and that Drummond "might well have succeeded Tedder asChief of the Air Staff" but for his early death.[47] He is commemorated on Panel 264 of theRunnymede Memorial inSurrey.[71]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Air Member for Training 1943–1945 | Succeeded by |
