Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond 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 saw action during the Gallipoli campaign the following year . He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and became a fighter ace in the Middle Eastern theatre . 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 served for two years in the Sudan and for four years in Australia on secondment to the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) , including a tour as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff . Based in Cairo 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 twice offered command of the RAAF during the war but did not take up the position on either occasion . Britain ' s Air Member for Training from 1943 , he was lost in a plane crash at sea in 1945 . Early career . Drummond was born in Perth , Western Australia , to merchant John Maxwell Drummond and his wife Caroline . Registered as Roy Maxwell Drummond , he acquired the nickname " Peter " during his schooling at Scotch College , and formally adopted it as his first name in 1943 . He served in the cadets and worked as a bank clerk before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 September 1914 . World War I . Soldier and pilot . At 5 ft 7in ( 171 cm ) in height , Drummond was judged too slight of build for the infantry and was instead assigned to the 2nd Stationary Hospital of the Australian Army Medical Corps as an orderly . In December 1914 , Drummond ' s unit arrived in Egypt . He was sent to Gallipoli in April 1915 and served on a hospital ship , assisting surgeons in candlelit operations on the wounded . Drummond was evacuated later that year , suffering from dysentery . In December , he applied for a transfer to the British Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) and was discharged from the Australian Army in April 1916 . Following pilot training in the United Kingdom , Drummond received the rank of temporary second lieutenant and was attached to No . 1 Squadron , Australian Flying Corps , which was based in Egypt . During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign , he took part in the air assaults that preceded the Battle 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 . . . " On 20 March 1917 , Drummond , flying a Royal Aircraft Factory B . E . 2 , was one of two pilots who strafed enemy troops threatening Lieutenant Frank McNamara as he rescued a downed Australian airman , the action for which McNamara was awarded his Victoria Cross . Flight commander and ace . Drummond became a flight commander with No . 1 Squadron ( numbered 67 Squadron RFC by the British ) in May 1917 . He was awarded the Military Cross in August for his " skill and courage on all occasions " after he and Lieutenant Adrian Cole engaged and drove off six enemy aircraft that were attempting to bomb Allied cavalry . In October 1917 , Drummond joined No . 111 Squadron RFC as a flight commander , with the temporary rank of captain . On 12 December 1917 , he and observer / gunner John Knowles were escorting two Australian aircraft in his Bristol Fighter near Tul Karem , Palestine , when they were spotted by three German Albatros scouts . Drummond attacked and destroyed all three of the enemy aircraft . This achievement earned him the Distinguished Service Order for his " great skill and daring " . 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 a Nieuport , single - handedly engaged six other German aircraft that had suddenly appeared . 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 " . Drummond 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 his undercarriage in his escape — before he shook off all but one of the pursuing fighters and landed safely behind Allied lines . He was awarded a Bar to his DSO for his " gallant and successful " actions . Drummond kept the temporary rank of captain when the RFC merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 . He was given command of No . 145 Squadron RAF on 19 July 1918 , and made an acting major in September . He finished the war an ace , with eight victories , and was twice mentioned in despatches . Inter - war years . Drummond continued to serve in the RAF following World War I , taking command of No . 111 Squadron on 20 February 1919 and receiving his permanent commission as a flight lieutenant that August . He was based in the Sudan in 1920 - 21 , as part of Britain ' s system of " control without occupation " , using aircraft instead of armies to put down local rebellions . As acting squadron leader , Drummond commanded " H " Unit , the entire complement of which consisted of two aircraft . He was appointed an Officer 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 against Garjak Nuer tribesmen . After returning to Britain , Drummond attended RAF Staff College , Andover , graduating in 1923 . Seconded to the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) in 1925 , he served as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and as Director of Operations and Intelligence , before returning to the UK in 1929 . Drummond graduated from the Imperial Defence College , London , in December 1930 , and was promoted wing commander on 1 July 1931 . He commanded RAF Manston for a brief period in mid - 1931 , and later RAF Tangmere between November 1931 and June 1933 . In September 1936 he was appointed Officer Commanding RAF Northolt , gaining promotion to group captain on 1 January 1937 . He was posted to Cairo in September 1937 as Senior Air Staff Officer ( SASO ) RAF Middle East and raised to air commodore on 1 July 1939 . World War II . Deputy Air Officer Commanding - in - Chief Middle East . Drummond was still in his position as SASO RAF Middle East when Britain declared war on 3 September 1939 . Having been made an acting air vice marshal in June 1940 , and temporary air vice marshal the following January , he was appointed acting Deputy Air Officer Commanding - in - Chief ( AOC - in - C ) RAF Middle East in May 1941 , following Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder ' s elevation to acting AOC - in - C . Tedder ' s and Drummond ' s posts were made permanent in June 1941 , Drummond being raised to acting air marshal . Both officers have been credited 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 . Drummond was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 23 September 1941 . In early 1942 the Australian Government sought Drummond for the position of Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) of the RAAF , to succeed Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett at the completion of the latter ' s two - year term . Although initially supportive of the plan , the British 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 . 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 ) . Air Chief Marshal Burnett had recommended his deputy , Air Vice Marshal William Bostock , for CAS but in May 1942 the position went to acting Air Commodore George Jones . Bostock in turn became Air Officer Commanding RAAF 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 posting to the Air Council as Air Member for Training . Final posting and loss at sea . Drummond took up the position of Air Member for Training on 27 April 1943 , succeeding Air Marshal Sir Guy Garrod . He was promoted to temporary air marshal on 1 June 1943 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . The following year he turned down the position of Air Commander - in - Chief South East Asia Command . Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh - Mallory accepted it instead , and died in an aircraft accident on his way to take up the post . On 27 March 1945 , Drummond was " en route " to Canada with other dignitaries to attend a ceremony marking the closure of the Empire Air Training Scheme . His plane , a B - 24 Liberator nicknamed " Commando " that was formerly the personal transport of Winston Churchill , disappeared near the Azores and all aboard were presumed killed . Peter Drummond was survived by his wife Isabel , whom he married in Toorak , Victoria , while on loan to the RAAF in 1929 , and their three children . He was twice mentioned in despatches for his service in World War II , in 1942 and 1946 . On 3 May 1946 , Drummond was posthumously granted permission to wear the award of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix , conferred by the Kingdom of Greece .