Christopher Draper was a British flying ace of the First World War and a stunt pilot. Born in 1892, he became famous for his incredible flights under the bridges of the River Thames and for campaigning for veterans’ rights.
Like many war veterans, Draper suffered a sad fate after the Great War. He worked as a car salesman but later desperately tried to return to flying. In September 1931, Draper was both jobless and without a penny in his pocket.
Driven by an idea that was later described as a bold attempt to protest against the treatment of the First World War veterans, Draper borrowed a DH.80A Puss Moth aeroplane with the intention of flying under all fourteen Thames bridges. However, due to adverse weather conditions, he only managed to pass only under Tower Bridge and Westminster Bridge. This stunt earned him the nickname “The Mad Major”.
Draper’s performance was filmed, and he later began working as a stunt pilot and even as an actor. He was also a British secret agent and reportedly knew Hitler personally. He acted as a double agent for Germany and eventually returned to the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
The wheel of history turned, and the situation faced by the Second World War veterans in the 1950s was similar to that experienced by veterans of the Great War in the years that followed it. As in 1931, there was a pilot who was penniless and wished to protest against the government’s treatment of veterans. He rented an Auster aircraft and intended to fly under eighteen London bridges. This pilot was Christopher Draper, who, after being unemployed for more than a year, decided to perform just one more desperate stunt to draw attention to himself.
On 5 May 1953, Draper took off for his spectacular flight, this time nearly completing his objective by flying under fifteen bridges over the Thames, located within the Greater London area.
As in 1931, Draper carried out this spectacular flight for publicity. Despite being a well-known former military pilot, a flying ace of the Great War and a Second World War veteran, the Mad Major was completely destitute. The remarkable flight under the Thames bridges was both a desperate attempt to demonstrate that he was still fit and employable and a way how to draw public attention to the plight of war veterans in the United Kingdom.
For that flight, Draper was fined only a ten-guinea court fee, but his flying licence was revoked. However, the Mad Major managed to have it restored shortly afterwards and continued flying actively until the age of 71.
Interestingly, the famous stunt of 1931 was not Draper’s first flight under a river bridge. As early as 1915, he flew a seaplane under the Firth of Tay bridge near Dundee.
The Mad Major passed away in 1979, aged 86. He reportedly flew as much as 73 types of aircraft, logging more than 17,000 flying hours in total.
More daring flights and incredible stunts in our feature story, Flying the impossible – an incredible story of daring flights.
Cover photo: Christopher Draper in 1919, Wikipedia, Public Domain
