Raimund Draper

Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper, nicknamed "Smudge", was an American airman of the Royal Air Force who died during the Second World War.
He was born on 27 December 1913, in London, the son of American parents Paul and Muriel Draper (née Sanders). They had moved to London in 1911, so that Paul could study under lieder singer Raimund von zur Muhlen.Mercier, Anita Mercier (2008), Guilhermina Suggia, Cellist, p. 30. Draper was reputedly the biological son of pianist Arthur RubinsteinSachs, Harvey & Manildi, Donald (1995). Rubinstein: A Life. p. 177.. His brother, Paul, was a prominent tap dancer, while his aunts were the actresses Joyce Grenfell and Ruth Draper. 
Draper volunteered for the Royal Air Force while the United States was still neutral, and was commissioned as a pilot officer on 17 September 1941.The London Gazette (35343), p. 6507. 11 November 1941, thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2015. On 23 May 1943, while serving with 64 Squadron, Draper's Supermarine Spitfire developed engine difficulties shortly after taking off from RAF Hornchurch. The airfield was located in the vicinity of a school, and Draper chose to pilot his failing Spitfire away from it. He then deliberately nose-dived into a nearby playing field and was killed on impact.Draper, Ruth & Warren, Dorothy (1999), The Letters of Ruth Draper: Self-portrait of an Actress, 1920-1956, p. 230.
He is buried at Hornchurch Cemetery. The school adopted "Sanders Draper" as part of its name in 1971.
==Notes==
==References==
*Draper, Raimund Sanders, cwgc.org. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
Category:1913 births
Category:1943 deaths
Category:American military personnel
Category:British military personnel
Category:British people of American descent
Category:Royal Air Force
Category:Buried in England
Category:Flying Officers