Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond | |
|---|---|
&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:004353Drummond1.jpg) Air Vice-Marshal Drummond in the Middle East, 1940 | |
| Born | 2 June 1894 Perth, Western Australia |
| Died | 27 March 1945 (aged 50) Azores |
| 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 Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond, KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, MC (2 June 1894 – 27 March 1945) was an Australian-born senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in World War II. Drummond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 and the following year saw service as a medical orderly during the Gallipoli campaign. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and became a fighter ace in the Middle Eastern theatre, where he was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order and Bar. 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 an Officer of the Order of the British Empire—and was posted to Australia on secondment to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as Director of Operations and Intelligence. In Britain, he commanded RAF stations Tangmere and Northolt. Ranked air commodore at the outbreak of World War II, he was Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder's Deputy Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Middle East from 1941 to 1943. Drummond was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1941 for his services in the Middle East, and knighted 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's Air Member for Training from 1943, Drummond was killed in a plane crash at sea in 1945.