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Squadron Commander Davies ascending in his aeroplane after taking flight Sub Lieutenant Smylie onboard. - Cranston Military Prints

Squadron Commander Davies ascending in his aeroplane after taking flight Sub Lieutenant Smylie onboard.


Squadron Commander Davies ascending in his aeroplane after taking flight Sub Lieutenant Smylie onboard.

The enemy were soon hard on the track of Lieutenant Smylie. But, having descended at a safe distance from the burning aeroplane, Commander Davies took up Lieutenant Smylie and returned to the aeroplane. For skill and gallantry this feat of airmanship can seldom have been equalled, and Commander Davies was deservedly rewarded with the V.C.
This item depicts the event in November 1915 for which Richard Bell Davies (subsequently Vice Admiral) was awarded the Victoria Cross on 1st January 1916. During a bombing mission over Bulgaria, the aircraft of Sub Lt Gilbert Smylie was damaged by ground fire and forced to land. He jettisoned his bombs while still in the air, but one failed to release and remained with the aircraft as it crash-landed. Smylie set fire to his machine and set to depart, intending for the remaining bomb to explode in the flames, but saw Squadron Commander Bell Davies descending towards the burning wreckage. He returned to the ordnance and detonated it by means of a pistol shot from close range ensuring the safe descent and landing of Bell Davies' aircraft. With the enemy approaching, Bell Davies took Smylie into his machine in the most cramped conditions, but returned to the aerodrome safely. For this, Bell Davies was awarded the Victoria Cross and Smylie the Distinguished Service Cross. It is thought to have been the first combat rescue by aircraft of this kind in history.
Item Code : DTE0443Squadron Commander Davies ascending in his aeroplane after taking flight Sub Lieutenant Smylie onboard. - Editions Available
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First World War antique black and white book plate published c.1916-18 of glorious acts of heroism during the Great War. This plate may also have text on the reverse side which does not affect the framed side. Title and text describing the event beneath image as shown. Paper size 10.5 inches x 8.5 inches (27cm x 22cm)none£6 Off!
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While making a photographic reconnaissance over the enemys lines, the aeroplane in which Second Lieutenant (temporary Lieutenant) Malcolm Henderson, of the 4th (Ross Highland) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (Rosshire Buffs, the Duke of Albanys) Territorial Force, and Royal Flying Corps, was flying, was struck by a shell from a German anti aircraft gun. Passing through the nacelle of the machine, the shell took off Lieutenant Hendersons left leg just below the knee. In spite of this serious injury he succeeded in planing down from a height of 7,000 feet and in safely landing 3,000 yards behind the British lines. His cool and courageous action, for which he was awarded the D.S.O. saved the life of the observer.
Second Lieutenant Henderson Flying down into the British lines after his left leg had been severed by a shell.		 On July 2, 1900 Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin piloted his first rigid-framed, lighter-than-air ship over Lake Constance in Germany. Seventeen years later, on June 16, 1917, Zepellins latest creation, the L-48, was readied at Nordholz, Germany for its first combat mission. The huge L-48 was one of the newest and most technically advanced German airships. Powered by five 250 HP Maybach engines, the great airship could carry 6,000 pounds in bombs, and was manned by a crew of nineteen. For this maiden mission the commodore of the North Sea Airship Division, Victor Schutze, would be joining the L-48s skipper Kapitain-lieutenant Franz George Eichler. Early in the afternoon the L-48 commenced its mission along with several other airships from the Nordholz base. The great Zeppelin would cruise at 60 MPH at 5,000 to 10,000 feet and would ascend to approximately 20,000 feet when approaching its target. This altitude would provide an effective defense against both anti-aircraft or British fighters. RAF Captain Robert Saundby, had returned from the front, to be put in charge of a very small RFC squadron at Oxford Ness. June 16 was a cloudless night, perfect for a Zeppelin attack., and at 11:15 PM Saundby launched his two active aircraft equipped with incendiary machine gun bullets. As he gazed up at the stars at 1:00 AM Saundby was startled to see a huge zeppelin outlined by searchlights only a few miles away. Awakening two of his mechanics, Saundby instructed them to fire up his single-seat DH2 fighter. Although obsolete and not equipped for night fighting, Saundby, who had never flown at night, got the little pusher-propeller fighter in the air, and began a long ascent. After fifteen minutes of flying Saundby spotted the L-48, which was by now attracting anti-aircraft fire which was exploding several thousand feet below the great airships altitude. For an hour or so, Saundby tried to coax every bit of altitude out of his little DH2, but he could not get in range. At around 3:00AM the L-48 completed its bombing runs, and the Captain set a due north course. With dawn only an hour away, Captain Eichler was anxious to get out of British airspace. A report from an observation airship which had accompanied the strike force that evening indicated favorable winds at 13,000 feet. Captain Eichler gave the orders to descend. Meanwhile, Captain Saundby who had fought the cold and wind while tailing the L-48 for nearly three hours, was startled to see the great airship descending. Pushing his DH2 to the limit, Saundby emptied 8 canisters of incendiaries at the L-48. Recognizing the attack the L-48 dumped ballast, and immediately began to ascend. Saundbys last few round met their target and the L-48 erupted. Saundby felt the surge of heat and light, and struggled to keep his little craft under control. Within minutes the L-48s maiden mission was over, as Saundby circled the 750 foot long fireball which had come down at Westford. Amazingly, two of the L-48s crewmembers survived, the only people to ever survive a zeppelin which had been ignited. One of these survivors, Kapitanlieuntenant Meith wrote a letter describing the L-48s fateful misssion, providing much of the historical basis for this incident.

Moonlight Renegade by Stan Stokes.		 From 1915 to 1917, there existed a very real threat of a bombing campaign on mainland Britain as the giant German airships drifted silently and menacingly across the English Channel and the North Sea to deliver their deadly cargo on the towns and cities of the east coast. Countermeasures were soon put into action as powerful searchlights picked out the Zeppelins for the anti-aircraft batteries and RFC pilots to pour their unrelenting fire into the raiders, sometimes with little effect, sometimes with catastrophic results. Here, 2nd Lieutenant Brandons BE.2 climbs for position, its exhaust pipes aglow in the dark, whilst flak bursts all around the massive bulk of the L.33 as she passes over the east end of London on the night of 23 / 24th September 1916.

A Zeppelin over London by Ivan Berryman. 		Droning over the coast en route to another night attack on mainland Britain, the Zeppelins top gun platform goes into action as BE.2 fighters wheel around the gas-filled giants, trying desperately to fire their Brock, Pomeroy and Sparklet ammunition into the volatile gasbags that lay beneath the Zeppelins skin. Often freezing cold, always vulnerable, the defensive gunners occupied a tiny, sunken recess on the very top of the airship, shielded from the buffeting winds only by a shallow screen and their thick leather flying suits. Just a handrail and a shallow step lay between them and a vertiginous drop over the rolling sides of their massive craft. Their air-cooled Parabellum MG.14 machine guns did little to repulse their attackers, whilst the great Zeppelins offered themselves as huge, bloated targets for ground artillery as well as the brave pilots of the RFC.

Zeppelin Gunners by Ivan Berryman.
Squadrons Related to This Print
Royal Flying Corps
Aircraft Related to This Print
Nieuport 10

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