Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper (27 December 1913 – 24 March 1943) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

pilot who gained fame in 1943 after dying in an aircraft crash in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

. He was the son of activist

Muriel Draper Muriel Draper (c. 1886 – August 26, 1952) was an American writer, artist and social activist. Biography Moving in English and American art circles, she participated in the Harlem Renaissance. A follower of Russian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff, she ...

and the brother of dancer Paul Draper. When his engine failed over a school after take-off from

RAF Hornchurch Royal Air Force Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch is a former Royal Air Force Royal Air Force station, sector station in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to the southeast of Romford. The a ...

, Draper chose to guide his aircraft into the ground outside of the school to protect the students and faculty present. The school changed its name to Sanders Draper School in 1973, and was renamed Sanders School in 2014.

The crash

Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper, known as "Smudge", was an American volunteer

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(RAF) pilot of No. 64 Squadron. He deliberately crashed his

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

aircraft, to avoid hitting a school, after losing control on take-off from

, and was killed. The plane's engine cut out at an estimated altitude of and the plane went into a spin. As the plane headed for Suttons School, just from the airfield perimeter, Draper put the nose down and forced the aircraft into the ground short of the main building. The aircraft bounced and a wing stuck the building. Only one student, 13-year-old Richard (Dick) Barton (''sometimes Barten,'') was injured, with 5 other students treated for minor shock. One of the students who witnessed the accident recalled:

At 10.45 am an aircraft crashed on the playing field, the main parts being ricocheted onto the drive, fragments breaking a total of 9 windows in three classrooms. Splinters from the 'plane scored the wall and injured the playing field and shrubbery. Richard Burton received a cut on the leg from flying glass needing medical attention and five boys were treated from primary shock. The boy with the injured leg was conveyed to his home by ambulance, under Dr. Heath's orders. School was evacuated to shelter for 15 minutes owing to probability of danger from fire and exploding ammunition. By 11.15 am the school had resumed normal work.

Remembrance by students

An annual memorial service is held at his grave by men who were pupils at the school at the time of his death. Services at St Andrew's church, where the American pilot was buried, were begun by a group of the students from that time, in the 1980s. The last service was on the 70th anniversary, due to the age of the participants. They recall that the school had 650 students at the time of the crash.

School renamed in pilot's honour

In 1973, the school was renamed The Sanders Draper School and Specialist Science College in his honour and then changed in 2014 to Sanders School. The school will return to its rightful name of Sanders Draper in September 2021 following a drive for this from new Headteacher Mr Brooks and the Success For All Educational Trust which had the full backing of the local community.

Personal life and family

Sanders Draper was American, but born in London, England. He attended Avon Old Farms school in USA. They continue to pay homage to Sanders and the sacrifice he made. Sadly he died age 29, on 24 March 1943 when he crashed his plane. His birth date is shown as 27 December 1913 on the Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate, which he received from the Airwork School of Flying on 16 June 1936 in Great Britain. He lived mainly in Manhattan, New York, in the USA. He was the younger son of American interior decorator, writer, and hostess Muriel Draper, the wife of a socially prominent lieder singer, Paul Draper. His parents married in 1909 in New York, then travelled in Europe; his father died in 1925 at age 38. His biological father was reputedly the pianist

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

. His father's sister was actress

Ruth Draper Ruth Draper (December 2, 1884December 30, 1956) was an American actress, dramatist and noted diseuse who specialized in character-driven monologues and monodrama. Her best-known pieces include ''The Italian Lesson'', ''Three Women and Mr. Cliff ...

while one uncle, George Draper, a prominent doctor, was married to American interior decorator

Dorothy Draper Dorothy Draper (November 22, 1889 – March 11, 1969) was an American interior decorator. Stylistically very minimalism, anti-minimalist, she would use bright, exuberant colors and large prints that would encompass whole walls. She incorporated b ...

. His older brother was Paul Draper, a noted dancer and actor. In 1940, George, Paul and their mother Muriel lived in New York City, per the 1940 US Census, National Archives and Records Administration. In 1934, he married Marcia Anne Myers Tucker (later Mrs Charles Carroll Fulton Bagley). Later divorced, they had one daughter, Marcia ''Anne'' Draper.

References

External links

Photo of Draper's gravestone

Sanders School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Raimund Sanders 1913 births 1943 deaths American Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Royal Air Force officers Military personnel from London