550 Squadron

F/Sgt C G Draper and Crew

F/Sgt Draper and crew were posted to 550 Sqdn from No. 1 L.F.S on 15.7.44.

F/Sgt Draper flew his first operational flight at 550 Sqdn as 2nd pilot to F/O Buchanan, see: Le Havre, 01 Aug 1944, LL831.

However following that there appears to be no record in the Squadron ORB of F/Sgt Draper then leading his own crew (above) on any operations.

A short time after arrival at 550 Sqdn F/Sgt Draper was posted out from 550 Sqdn to No. 11 Base for re-crewing on 27/8/44, but the ORB does not record transfer out records for any of the remaining crew members. However, according to Sgt Arnold Panther's service history it would appear that the whole crew were transferred out to 11 Base although only F/SGt Draper is mentioned in the ORB.

After 11 Base the crew were transferred to 166 Sqdn before eventually moving again when 153 Sqdn was formed. The crew were all lost on their 1st mission with 153 Sqdn on 14/10/44. By following this IBCC link (https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/106492/) the loss record for each of the crew can be seen.

Thanks to Jon Panther, a great nephew of Arnold Panther (F/Eng), for information from Sgt Panther's service record, including the document below.

Sgt AJP Panther (F/Eng)
Service record (including period at 550 Sqdn)

F/Sgt Draper joined the RAFVR in 1942. The then LAC Draper was involved in a fatal training accident where the instructor was killed after the De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth T8202 stalled during a turn (see link https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/275924).

De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth T8202 training crash details
Crabley Creek crossing, 2 miles south west of Brough airfield, East Yorkshire. 16th July 1941