Lieutenant Llewelyn Crichton Davies (9 January 1889 – 16 March 1918) was a Welsh World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

credited with five aerial victories.

Biography

Llewellyn Crichton (or Crighton) Davies was born in Cardiff, the son of William Henry Davies, the editor of the ''Cardiff Figaro'', and Hanna Crighton, from

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...

. He was educated at Cardiff and at Halifax, and became a chartered accountant.du Ruvigny & Raineval (1922) On the outbreak of World War I, he was living in

Pollokshields Pollokshields ( gd, Buthan Phollaig, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok C ...

, Glasgow, and enlisted as a private in the 5th Battalion,

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Reg ...

on 4 August 1914. On 7 March 1915 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Davies saw action with his regiment on the Western Front during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, and on 28 August 1916 he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. His citation read: :Second Lieutenant Llewellyn Crighton Davies, Scottish Rifles. :For conspicuous gallantry in action. He handled his trench-mortars with great skill, and knocked out an enemy machine-gun that was holding up the advance. He also took charge of various parties that had lost their officers, and brought in single-handed a wounded man under heavy fire. In February 1917 he was seconded to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

as a flying officer (observer), and served with No. 22 Squadron as an observer/gunner in the

FE.2b Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 (Farman Experimental 2) designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout. The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day and n ...

reconnaissance aircraft.Guttman & Dempsey (2007), pp. 80 & 93. While flying with Captain Carleton Main Clement on morning formation patrol, he was credited with two

Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service (''Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). T ...

fighters destroyed on 6 and 8 April 1917, although they were shared with several others, including

Gerald Gordon Bell Captain Gerald Gordon Bell (11 June 1890 – unknown) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with sixteen aerial victories while serving in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. World War I Bell was born ...

. On 5 June, Davies and Clement destroyed an

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

and drove a second one down out of control. Davies was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July. On 29 July, having upgraded to a

Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Bif ...

, Davies and Clement shot down another German aircraft, thought to be that of

Kurt Schneider Kurt Schneider (7 January 1887 – 27 October 1967) was a German psychiatrist known largely for his writing on the diagnosis and understanding of schizophrenia, as well as personality disorders then known as psychopathic personalities. Bi ...

, ''

Staffelführer ''Staffelführer'' was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in the early years of that group's existence. The later SS rank of ''Staffelführer'' traces its origins to the First World War, where the tit ...

'' of ''

Jasta 5 History Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 5, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 5, was created on January 21, 1916, and mobilized on 21 August 1916, as one of the first fighter units of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Arm ...

''. Schneider later died of wounds received in this action. In November 1917, Davies was reassigned to No. 105 Squadron.Franks ''et.al.'' (1997), p. 13. He was appointed a flying officer on 27 February 1918, but on 13 March, while based at the 54th Training Depot Station, he was fatally injured after crashing his

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Air ...

(serial number B5495), and died three days later at the Somerville Section of the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Oxford. Davies is buried at Holy Trinity Church,

Penton Mewsey Penton Mewsey is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is located north-west of Andover. The village is home to approximately 400 people and has about 110 houses. The name Penton is derived from ''Penitone'', which is a farm held ...

, Hampshire, England.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Llewelyn 1889 births 1918 deaths Burials in Hampshire British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Cardiff British accountants Cameronians soldiers Cameronians officers Royal Flying Corps officers British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Military Cross Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1918 Welsh aviators