HARRY EUGENE DRAKE
1915 -

Bow Designer, Developer, and Flight Shooter Extraordinarie

Born in Kansas, May 7, 1915. A resident of California from 1930 to 1972. Harry Drake was an early pioneer in the designing and building of the modern "composite" bow. Although Harry's bow won many State and National tournaments he will perhaps be best remembered for the deve1opment of flight bows, both foot and hand held.

For 29 straight years, since 1947, a Drake bow held the Men's National Flight record. He built the first bow to cast an arrow over 600 yards since the days of the ancient Turks. (May 31, 1947, Southern California Archery Association tournament - 603 yards). Bows built by Harry, while he lived in California, have established more flight records than any other bowyer since man has recorded such things.

A Drake bow designed in 1964 shot a record of 1,077 yard and on October 24, 1971 at Ivanpah Dry Lake in the high desert of California during the Official N.A.A. Flight Championships, from an unlimited footbow, he conceived, designed and built, Harry Drake shot an arrow 268 yards over a mile, (2,028 yards). The Guineas Book of World Records recognizes this feat as the greatest distance any man has cast a missile by means of muscle power alone.

Harry Drake, a bowyer whose many years in his California work shop designing and building and many days spent in the high desert of California testing; helped give the modern archer, bows that were capable o projecting a missile by muscle power alone, further than ever dreamed by man.

Harry Drake, the modern "Father" of flight shooting.
Inducted 1978