Fullbore Friday

Two Obits on one great pilot - Group Captain Billy Drake, RAF. The best is from The Telegraph - read it all.

WaPo has a good summary though;

Billy Drake, 93, a British fighter ace whose daring and skill made him one of the Royal Air Force’s most successful pilots of World War II, died Aug. 28, the Daily Telegraph of London reported. The cause and location of death could not be confirmed.

Group Captain Drake was credited with 24.5 aerial kills — another pilot was given half of one kill — and he reportedly destroyed a dozen more enemy planes parked on the ground.

So few left - and the Britain they fought for is mostly gone. Still ...

The WaPo ended with this grinn'r. I think Billy would like it - with a wink in his eye.

Group Captain Drake flew nearly every sortie wearing a cravat in the colors of English Epsom Derby winner Hyperion around his neck.

“By God, we had a good time. That’s not to say we behaved in the way Hollywood likes to portray Battle of Britain pilots. Of course, there were a few randy ruffians who would chase any girl,” he told the Sunday Mirror, a British publication, last year. “But generally we all had girlfriends, and we didn’t use the war as an excuse to sleep with them. We were gentlemen.”

Yes you were; and good men. Thanks.

For the younger reader, there is some good career advice in there as well. Know when it is time to go.