VC Action: Vice Admiral Richard Bell-Davies VC, CB, DSO, AFC, RN (May 19, 1886 - February 26, 1966), also known as Richard Bell Davies, was a British First World War fighter pilot, in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.

Davies enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1901, and, inspired by British air pioneer Claude Grahame-White’s demonstrations at the fleet’s summer maneuvers in 1910, he signed up for private flying lessons, though it was not until 1913 that he was accepted into the fleet’s new air arm (Royal Flying Corps, Naval Service). In the early days of the war, Davies carried out a number of spectacular missions including a raid on the German submarine bases at Zeebrugge which earned him a Distinguished Service Order.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross on January 1, 1916 for a raid on a Bulgarian railway junction, called the Ferrijik Junction as part of the larger Dardanelles campaign, on 19 November 1915. He was 29 years old, and a Squadron Commander in 3 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

Richard Bell-Davis, Squadron Commander Charles Samson, and another pilot, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert Smylie, had finished their bombing runs on the railhead at Ferijik Junction, and Davies was heading for home when he saw Smylie’s plane on the ground. Flight-Lieutenant Smylie’s machine was received by very heavy fire and brought down. The pilot planed down over the Station, releasing all his bombs except one, which failed to drop, simultaneously at the station from a very low altitude. He continued his descent into the marsh. On leaving his aircraft he saw the one unexploded bomb, and that Bulgarian troops were approaching. Smylie set fire to his machine, knowing that the bomb would ensure its destruction. He then proceeded towards Turkish territory. At this moment he saw Squadron-Commander Davies descending and fearing that he would come down near the burning machine and thus risk destruction from the bomb, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Smylie ran back and from a short distance exploded the bomb by means of a pistol bullet. Squadron-Commander Davies descended at a safe distance from the burning machine, took up Sub-Lieutenant Smylie, in spite of the near approach of a party of the enemy who were within rifle range, and returned to the aerodrome, a feat of airmanship that can seldom have been equalled for skill and gallantry.

After the withdrawal from the Dardanelles, Davies was instrumental in developing Britain’s first strategic bombing force. In 1917 he was promoted to senior flying officer of the Grand Fleet and was involved in developing the Royal Navy’s first aircraft carriers. He served briefly with the Royal Air Force in 1918, but returned to the Navy in 1919, and was head of the Naval Air Section from 1920 to 1924. Between 1924 and 1937 he held a variety of air service and sea-going commands, and became the first air officer promoted to Rear Admiral in 1937.

Davies retired (briefly) as a Vice-Admiral in May 1941, but returned to duty until retiring for good in 1944. Shortly before his death at Haslar Naval Hospital in Portsmouth at the age of 79 he completed his memoirs, which were published after his death as “Sailor in the Air.”

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