page_title: Vance Drummond
section_title: Sabre pilot
hierarchical_section_title: Vance Drummond / Sabre pilot
caption_attribution_description: Richmond, NSW. Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Avon Sabres of the Black Diamonds aerobatic team performing at RAAF Base Richmond during an Air Force Week display.
context_page_description: Vance Drummond, DFC, AFC was a New Zealand–born Australian pilot who fought in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He initially saw service in the New Zealand military, but joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1949 and graduated as a sergeant pilot in 1951. Posted to No. 77 Squadron in Korea, he flew Gloster Meteor jet fighters and earned the US Air Medal for his combat skills. He was shot down by a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in December 1951 and imprisoned for almost two years. After returning to Australia he converted to CAC Sabre jets and in December 1961 became a flight commander with No. 75 Squadron; he subsequently led the squadron's Black Diamonds aerobatic team, and was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1965.
  Drummond was promoted to acting wing commander in December 1965 and posted to South Vietnam on staff duties with the United States Air Force. He joined the US Air Force's 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron, operating Cessna Bird Dog aircraft, as a forward air controller in July 1966. That month he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in rescuing a company of soldiers surrounded by Viet Cong forces.
context_section_description: After returning to Australia, Drummond undertook No. 8 Advanced Navigation Course. In April 1954 he was one of six navigators who made a graduation flight from East Sale in Victoria—home of the RAAF School of Air Navigation—to New Zealand in Avro Lincoln bombers. He was then posted for flying duties with No. 2 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Williamtown, where he completed No. 3 Fighter Combat Instructors Course. Drummond was a founding member of the Sabre Trials Flight, established in November 1954 as part of No. 2 OTU under Wing Commander Dick Cresswell, former commanding officer of No. 77 Squadron in Korea. The CAC Sabre was the RAAF's first swept-wing, transonic aircraft; belonging to the Trials Flight was, according to the official history of the post-war RAAF, "the Air Force's ultimate status symbol". Drummond was promoted to flight lieutenant on 30 May 1955. On 9 September, he married Margaret Buckham, a law clerk, in St Peter's Anglican Church, Newcastle; the couple had a son.
  In February 1959, Drummond was assigned to Headquarters Operational Command, located in Glenbrook, New South Wales. From January to December 1961, he undertook No. 15 Course at the RAAF Staff College in Canberra. He then joined No. 75 Squadron as a flight commander and was raised to squadron leader on 1 January 1962. No. 75 Squadron operated Sabres and was home to the Black Diamonds aerobatic display team, which frequently appeared at events in Australia and its territories; Drummond was appointed leader of the team in October 1962. He also played a major role in squadron mobility exercises. Drummond was posted to the staff of the Department of Air in Canberra in December 1964. On 1 January 1965, he was awarded the Air Force Cross for his "loyalty and devotion to duty, plus a very high sense of responsibility" while serving with No. 75 Squadron.
caption: The RAAF's Black Diamonds aerobatic team
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2018:07:23 22:10:44", "Image ExifOffset": "2142", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4360", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7286", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "E0FAC7B2D49C4423998CD4FE5E344B44", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}