"THE MAD MAJOR"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 107, 28 December 1931, Page 2

"THE MAD MAJOR"

DESPERATE EXPLOIT FLIGHT UNDER TOWER BRIDGE TO ,PROVE NERVE BRITISH WAR-TIME ACE "I did it to prove to the aeronautical world, and to satisfy myself, that in spite of the lapse of ten years^ I am still the highly skilled specialist I used to be." Thus stated Major Christopher Draper, of Hamilton Gardens, London, known in the war as the "Mad Major," when he pleaded guilty at the Guildhall Police Court to two charges in connection with his flight in a monoplane between the towers of Tower Bfidge. The charges were of flying in a manner to cause unnecessary danger to persons or property on land and water, and of j acting as a pilot without a license. He was bound over for 12_ months. The charges were the first of the kind to be brought in the City of London. Constahle Simmonds said that Major Draper suddenly swooped in his machine and passed between the high level of Tower Bridge and the bastilles. The high level was 110ft. and the height of the aeroplane was about 70ft. over the roadway. "This caused considerabie alarm to the pedestrians and drivers of vehicles on the hridge at the time," he said. "The machine again flew through the bridge at a much lower altitude., and pedestrians scattered left and right; and drivers of vehicles crouched." The major said that he had been on the stage, and his frends had made taunting remarks that he had "become soft." "Somewhat foolislily, I allowed this to pique me, and I made a hold effort to get back my old job. But nothing has hurt me more than to be told that this was the mad, hare^brained stunt of a youngster. I took my life in my hands to prove that I could do it, and I had no other motive." He said he was an old Air Force pilot, and took his certificate in 1913. He "commanded one of the most famous crack flight squadrons in France and was awarded the D.F.C., the Croix de Guerre, and was mentioned in dispatches." He pleaded that because of his financial position a fine would inevitably result in imprisonment, as he had no one he felt he could go to help him out. Sir Stephen Killik, in binding the major over, Said that he had at first intended to fine him £100.