Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond

Who was Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond?

Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, MC was an Australian-born senior commander in the Royal Air Force. 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, 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.