Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies VC, CB, DSO, AFC (19 May 1886 – 26 February 1966), also known as Richard Bell-Davies, was a senior Royal Navy commander, naval aviator, and a First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

[1] In the early days of the war, Davies and Richard Peirse carried out a number of raids on German submarine bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge.

These Officers have repeatedly attacked the German submarine station at Ostend and Zeebrugge, being subjected on each occasion to heavy and accurate fire, their machines being frequently hit.

At the outset of this flight Lieutenant Davies was severely wounded by a bullet in the thigh, but nevertheless he accomplished his task, handling his machine for an hour with great skill in spite of pain and loss of blood.

[3]Davies was then posted to the Dardanelles, and was awarded the Victoria Cross on 1 January 1916 for an action at Ferrijik Junction, in what was then part of Bulgaria near the border with Ottoman-controlled Europe, on 19 November 1915.

His citation read: The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Squadron-Commander Richard Bell Davies, D.S.O., R.N., and of the Distinguished Service Cross to Flight Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert Formby Smylie, R.N., in recognition of their behaviour in the following circumstances:— On the 19th November these two officers carried out an air attack on Ferrijik Junction.

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, and returned to the aerodrome, a feat of airmanship that can seldom have been equalled for skill and gallantry.

[6] In early 1916, Davies was transferred to the Western Front, conducting bombing raids behind German lines, and then as wing commander in the seaplane carrier HMS Campania, attached to the Grand Fleet.

[1] The RNAS was incorporated into the Royal Air Force in April 1918, but Davies relinquished his RAF commission in May 1919[7] and returned to naval service.