Santa Ana air museum remembers longtime docent who passed away after decades of service​on February 17, 2025 at 2:46 am

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) — Lieutenant Colonel Walter M. Drake was a centenarian who lived an exceptional life, which ranged from countless combat missions to educating others about aviation.

After serving as an expert pilot, he later became a docent at the Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, sharing his knowledge and expertise with visitors.

World War II hero Lt. Col. Drake passed away this past January. He volunteered the museum staring in 2009, and is remembered as one of the kindest and most knowledgeable of all the museum’s volunteers.

He served in the Air Force for three years, another 38 in the Reserve. The Lt. Col. is credited with taking down a German fighter plane during aerial combat in a P-38 and destroying three enemy airplanes on the ground in a P-51.

“He did some missions where they would do it’s called bombing and strafing, which was low-level like over enemy airfields. He would go and shoot airplanes that were parked on the airfield before they could get up, and I mean these are really incredibly brave crazy things to do that had to be done,” said Mark Foster, Lyon Air Museum President.

Among Drake’s medals and awards: the Distinguished Flying Cross, Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters. But boasting about his accomplishments wasn’t Drake’s style.

“I admired so much about a guy who was so humble but had done so much, You know, when he did it he was just like he would say you know just doing his job you know back then but here’s a guy who as a in his late teens and early 20s was flying fighter airplanes over hostile territory on a continent so far away,” said Foster.

Back home on the ground, he found camaraderie among the other vets, weaving in his own personal stories to bring back a piece of history for museum visitors until he turned 101 years old.

“I always knew there’d be a day that he wouldn’t be here anymore so yeah it was still pretty rough. Even at 101, it’s still too young for a guy like that,” said Foster.

When we talked with him back in 2021, Drake summed it all up:

“I just love to fly, you know you’re up there all alone and everything you did, it was up to you. Nobody helped you.”