John Stanley: A piece of history made by a fascinating – if troubled – man.
This bow was built in 1977 by Harry Eugene Drake (1915–1997), who remains the most consequential figure of all in modern flight archery, distinguished both by his achievements as a competitor and his innovations as a bowyer. For 29 consecutive years, bows like this one built by Drake held the national flight record in the USA. Drake spent considerable time testing equipment on the dry lake beds of the American West; his rigorous approach to applying the modern composites of the time to limb construction and arrow design steadily pushed distance records forward. It was ultimately an experimental design, like all his hand flight bows, because he never stopped to produce something fixed. Change was a constant part of his world, in the heyday of the sport, in a world then and now filled with a tiny handful of obsessives. As a bowyer, he successfully bridged the gap between historical flight shooting and the modern era of composite materials, in a discipline where the name of the bowyer is recorded alongside that of the archer whenever records are broken.
This bow was built in 1977 by Harry Eugene Drake (1915–1997), who remains the most consequential figure of all in modern flight archery, distinguished both by his achievements as a competitor and his innovations as a bowyer. For 29 consecutive years, bows like this one built by Drake held the national flight record in the USA. Drake spent considerable time testing equipment on the dry lake beds of the American West; his rigorous approach to applying the modern composites of the time to limb construction and arrow design steadily pushed distance records forward. It was ultimately an experimental design, like all his hand flight bows, because he never stopped to produce something fixed. Change was a constant part of his world, in the heyday of the sport, in a world then and now filled with a tiny handful of obsessives. As a bowyer, he successfully bridged the gap between historical flight shooting and the modern era of composite materials, in a discipline where the name of the bowyer is recorded alongside that of the archer whenever records are broken.Of all the bows I own, this one has a presence. It measures just 35 inches tip-to-tip, unstrung. I believe it is 60 lb from the markings, although I have yet to dare string it. There is something brutal and functional about it, but with a strange air of definite purpose. You sense it was built by someone who had very much their own ideas about why it should be so.
Image: Harry Drake [left] with archer Fritz Lederer holding a similar flight bow, late 1970s
In 1971 Drake shot an unlimited footbow of his own design a distance of 2,028 yards (1 mile, 268 yards), establishing an absolute distance record for a human-powered bow that would remain for over half a century – until 2024, when it was broken by Alan Case, another flight specialist who spent more than a decade of effort trying to best the mark. By the late 1970s Drake was in his mid-60s and working for Browning as a bow designer and builder; however, his primary professional focus remained specialised flight equipment. By the time this bow was built, much work was going into the increased performance of graphite arrows.
But Drake had his demons too; he spent many years struggling with alcohol and his correspondence (captured in the book Harry Drake and Flight Archery by Kay Koppedrayer) reveals a disciplined but dogmatic character, utterly consumed with the discipline he had devoted his life to. In 1977 he built at least twelve flight bows to order like this one: with forward grips, a ‘toothbrush’ style arrow rest, and the half-enclosed metal tube for the overdraw – his later bows would not include this last feature. Harry Drake died on 28 July 1997, aged 82, from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident on a Nevada dry lake bed while retrieving a flight arrow. Through his empirical research and material applications, Drake established the baseline for contemporary flight archery. He left behind an ultimate human record and a handful of bows like this which speak to his character: a strange kind of very human magic.
Images: Supplied by John Stanley
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