A courageous rescue

While researching topics for this column I came upon a World War I story of bravery by British pilot Richard Bell Davies on Nov. 19, 1915. If you saw Davies' actions recreated in a Hollywood film you would probably say it was unbelievable and unrealistic. It is one of the many war stories that are about personal events rather than the relating of major events in a war.

Davies was a Royal Naval Air Service squadron commander and on Nov. 19, he and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert F. Smylie were flying their planes on a bombing mission to a railway junction near Ferrijik, Bulgaria. The pilots were engaged by Turkish anti-aircraft fire and Smylie's aircraft was struck, and went down. Smylie dropped his bombs as he went down, although one was stuck and did not fall. He managed to control the plane and landed behind enemy lines. Davies circled and watched as Smylie tried unsuccessfully to restart his engine. Davies decided to land and rescue Smylie.

When Smylie saw Davies's planes coming in for a landing he wanted to remove one danger they faced, drew his pistol, and fired at the armed bomb still hanging from his plane. Smylie's single shot caused the bomb to explode, destroying the plane and clearing the landing zone.

Smylie had been injured and Davies left his landed plane to haul Smylie on board. They took off just as a group of Turkish soldiers reached the exploded plane, and Davies flew the two of them to safety behind British lines.

Richard Bell Davies demonstrated the type of courage so often displayed by soldiers who risk their lives protecting and saving their comrades. Davies retired from the Royal Navy as a Rear Admiral in 1944.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.