Raimund Sanders Draper
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Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper |
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|---|---|
| Born | 27 December 1913 London, UK |
| Died | 24 March 1943 (age 29) Hornchurch, Essex, England |
| Cause of death | Aircraft crash |
| Resting place | St. Andrew's Church cemetery, Hornchurch |
| Monuments | The Sanders School and Specialist Science College |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Fighter pilot |
| Employer | RAF |
| Organization | No. 64 Squadron |
| Known for | Self-sacrifice |
| Spouse(s) | Marcia Anne Myers Tucker |
| Children | Marcia Anne |
| Parent(s) | Muriel and Paul Draper |
| Relatives |
Paul Draper brother, Ruth Draper aunt |
Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper saved the lives of 650 students plus faculty in Sutton School in Hornchurch, Essex when his Spitfire plane's engine died and the plane went into a spin short of the nearby airfield on 24 March 1943 during the Second World War. He deliberately crashed the plane to avoid hitting the school. To do this, he did not jump from his plane, but was killed in the crash. The school was renamed in his honour to Sanders Draper School in 1973 on the 30th anniversary of the crash, until 2014, when the school was renamed again, to Sanders School. Draper was an American serving as a Spitfire pilot in the RAF.
Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper, known as "Smudge", was an American volunteer World War II Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot of No. 64 Squadron. He deliberately crashed his Spitfire aircraft, to avoid hitting a school, after losing control on take-off from RAF Hornchurch, and was killed.
The plane's engine cut out at an estimated altitude of 200 feet (61 m) and the plane went into a spin. As the plane headed for Suttons School, just 530 yards (480 m) from the airfield perimeter, Draper put the nose down and forced the aircraft into the ground short of the main building. The aircraft bounced and a wing stuck the building.
Only one student, 13-year-old Richard (Dick) Barton (sometimes Barten,) was injured, with 5 other students treated for minor shock.
One of the students who witnessed the accident recalled:
At 10.45 am an aircraft crashed on the playing field, the main parts being ricocheted onto the drive, fragments breaking a total of 9 windows in three classrooms. Splinters from the 'plane scored the wall and injured the playing field and shrubbery. Richard Burton received a cut on the leg from flying glass needing medical attention and five boys were treated from primary shock. The boy with the injured leg was conveyed to his home by ambulance, under Dr. Heath's orders. School was evacuated to shelter for 15 minutes owing to probability of danger from fire and exploding ammunition. By 11.15 am the school had resumed normal work.
An annual memorial service is held at his grave by men who were pupils at the school at the time of his death. Services at St Andrew's church, where the American pilot was buried, were begun by a group of the students from that time, in the 1980s. The last service was on the 70th anniversary, due to the age of the participants. They recall that the school had 650 students at the time of the crash.
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Wikipedia