LEST WE FORGET
Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell DRUMMOND KCB DSO & Bar OBE MC MID
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: No Service Number for Officers of Air Rank
Born: Perth WA, 2 June 1894
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Appointment: Air Member for Training and Member of Air Council, 1943-1945
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 231 Squadron (RAF) Liberator aircraft AL504), off the Azores, 27 March 1945, Aged 50 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Maxwell Drummond and Caroline Ann Drummond; husband of Lady Isabel Drummond, of Kensington, London. Deputy Air Officer, Commanding-in-Chief, Royal Air Force, Middle East, 1941-43
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 264, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Air Marshal Drummond is an Australian Air Ace credited with eight victories on the Western Front during World War One. His biography is online at the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Liberator AL504 departed RAF Station Northolt at 2300Z hours on 26 March 1945 for Ottawa, Canada, via Lagens, Azores, on special flight carrying VIPs. The ETA at Lagens was 0810Z hours on 27 March. The last contact with AL 504 was by Prestwick was at 0716Z hours on 27 March.
The aircraft was reported overdue at Lagens and an air/sea search instituted. Dinghies, wreckage and an oil patch were seen in position 40.30N 020.17W (in the Atlantic Ocean about 350 km north east of the Azores), but no trace of crew or passengers was found.
The crew members of AL504 were:
Mr Victor Ian Claude James Bannister (UK Civilian, Steward)
Wing Commander William Hugh Biddell OBE DFC (37376) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Aubrey Norman Brodie (170642) (RAFVR) (Co-Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant David Buchanan (J/11854) (RCAF) (Co-Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Kenneth George Shea (408707) (Co-Navigator)
Pilot Officer Douglas James Spence (C/52864) (RCAF) (Flight Engineer)
Mr. Frederick Walter Williams (UK Civilian, Radio Officer)
Passengers
Sir John Abraham (UK Civilian, Air Ministry)
Commander Rupert Arnold Brabner DSO DSC (RNVR) MP (Under Secretary of State for Air)
Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond (RAF) KCB DSO & Bar CBE MC MID (Air Member for Training)
Mr H A Jones (UK Civilian, Air Ministry)
Squadron Leader Elisha Gaddis Plum (79965) (RAFVR) (Air Ministry)
Mr E Robinson (UK Civilian, Private Secretary to the Under Secretary of State for Air)
Mr E Twentyman (UK Civilian, Ministry of Food)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/448
Bibliography:
Christie, C.A. (Carl Andrew) Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command, University of Toronto Press Toronto Canada, 1995
Cutlack, F.M. (Frederic Morley) The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-8, Angus and Robertson Ltd Sydney, 1941
Garrisson, A.D.J. (Arthur Dean John) (O350) Australian Fighter Aces 1914-1953, Air Power Studies Centre Fairbairn ACT 2600, 1999 – Biography: Pages 59-64