27 were lost. Drake probably shot down Unteroffizier Karl Könning, piloting Werknummer 7334 from 3./JG 27. One 112 Squadron P-40 crashlanded. Drake followed this up with a shared victory against a Ju 87 and a probable against another on 1 October. The aircraft were from Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 which reported losses. On 22 October, on the eve of the Second Battle of El Alamein, Drake claimed a probable Bf 109. Another was credited on 26 October. On 19 November Drake claimed a Bf 110. This was probably a Bf 110F-2, Werknummer 5071 of 7./Zerstörergeschwader 26. Oberleutnant Hans Kollowrat and Unteroffizier Herbert Gries became prisoner of war. Drake was awarded a Bar to the DFC on 28 July 1942 and the Distinguished Service Order on 4 December 1942. He scored 13 aerial victories in P-40s. After being promoted to wing commander in January 1943, Drake briefly assumed a staff job in Cairo, before becoming commander of the Krendi Wing at RAF Krendi on Malta, flying Spitfires. In July 1943, he made his last claim of the war, a Macchi MC.202 of 4 Stormo, Regia Aeronautica, over Sicily. Staff officer In November 1943, Drake returned to England and commanded No. 20 Wing RAF, operating Hawker Typhoons with the Second Tactical Air Force. He was later sent on liaison duties to Fort Leavenworth in the United States. On 22 October 1943, he was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross. Drake later served as deputy station commander at RAF Biggin Hill, and finished the war as a staff officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. He later served as a staff officer and air attaché at British embassies, retiring from the RAF as a group captain on 1 July 1963. Later life Upon retirement, Drake spent 20 years in the Algarve coastal area of Portugal, where he managed properties and ran a bar in the old town of Albufeira near to the marina which was called "Billys Bar". The bar still exists today and is now called the "Arte Bar". In later years he lived in Teignmouth, Devon. He was twice married and was survived by two sons from his first marriage. In 2004 Drake was the subject of a documentary in the BBC Two Ancestors series. Titled Billy and the Fighter Boys, it focuses on his experiences with No. 1 Squadron in France in 1940, and includes the excavation of the crash site of