In Memoriam Squadron Leader Bevis Denton "Bob" Davies AFC RAF
‘Bob’ Davies was born on 11th July 1920 at Gravesend in Kent where his father was a Trinity House river pilot on the Thames piloting between Gravesend and the London docks up to London Bridge. Bob’s father had served in the Royal Naval Reserves in WWI, commanding a destroyer ‘HMS Bevis’. Bob’s mother was one of five daughters of a German father and Scottish mother. Although having some German heritage, Bob’s father was a British nationalist, but was Court Martialled on some trumped up charges, which result in the marriage of Bob’s father being somewhat frowned upon, denying him full recognition of his WWI exploits. However, in WWII, this seeming injustice was rectified when Bob’s father, serving again the RNR as a Lt Cdr commanding a flotilla of mine sweepers operating out of Dartmouth and Falmouth, was awarded the DSC.
Bob was christened ‘Bevis Denton’; Bevis being the name of his father’s WWI ship (and also the name of the Scottish knight in the Court of King Arthur). Denton was one of the names of his father’s Best Man – Captain Percival Denton Feathers. However, from a very young age Bevis Denton Davies assumed the Christian name ‘Bob’.
Educated at Gravesend Grammar School, he gained a place at the College of Aero & Auto Engineering in Sidney St, Chelsea. While there, following the Munich crisis of 1938, he responded to a recruiting drive and joined No 313 Royal Engineers TA Searchlight Battery. In 1939 he was ‘called up’ and joined a ten man searchlight team, as the generator and truck driver, located on a cliff site close to Sheerness where he witnessed the aerial battles of the Battle of Britain in the late summer of 1940. In the autumn of that year he volunteered for aircrew training. Just prior to this, one of Bob’s friends had lost his life as an Air Gunner in the RAF, so Bob volunteered to replace him. However, at the interview the ‘authorities’ had other ideas; with his marginal maths capability being rather detrimental for navigator training, he was offered instead training for the category of pilot which he accepted.
He joined the RAF through the Regents Park Aircrew Reception Centre on 17th July 1941 with flying training starting in September at the Watchfield Elementary Flying Training School on the DH82A Tiger Moth. In early 1942 he was selected to continue training as a pilot under the ‘Arnold Scheme’ in the United States to which he traveled by sea. Bob was awarded his wings and commissioned on 5th September 1942. In recognition of his exceptional flying skills he was selected for a Qualified Flying Instructor course at Maxwell, California, where he flew the Vultee Valiant BTY13a ‘Voltic Vibrator’. He was then posted to Shaw Field, near Sumpter, South Carolina where he spent the summer of 1943 as a QFI, training mainly American Aviation Cadets.
It was during this period that Bob was first married to a lady some 14 years his senior – Sylvie St Clair, a singer he met in a New York night club. Sadly, the marriage was not to last and after the war there was a mutual parting and divorce. Sylvie later went on to become Vic Oliver’s leading lady in his 1947 London production of ‘The Pyjama Game’.
On returning to the UK, he was frustrated to find he needed to go through the whole British retraining process, preventing him joining his Squadron. His frustrations were heightened when he had to spend a few weeks in the ‘bad boys’ detention centre at RAF Shedfield for taking an unauthorised weekend off.
After escape and evasion training in Yorkshire, Bob joined No 4 Group’s 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit at Riccall, Yorkshire, on the Handley-Page ‘Halifax MkII’, where he was crewed up and joined 578 Squadron at Burn near Selby in July 1944. Bob and his crew completed 18 day and night operations over a period of 14 months of very heavy losses, losing 48 aircraft and 219 aircrew. Bob was a great believer in ‘luck’, and in September 1944 a bomb dropped by a Lancaster above them fell right through his aircraft just aft of the top gunner’s position. Apart from the tail gunner losing his oxygen supply, the aircraft continued on and they set course for home. But in approaching, although losing height, they decided to try to make Base, the thought of ‘Leave’ the next day spurring them on. But the weather was against them, forcing a landing at Old Buckenham, south of Norwich.
A man of independent means, Bob did not suffer fools easily. He was also no respecter of rules. As well as a spell in the detention centre, he was also later Court Martialled and admonished for inadvertently wrecking his CO’s nearly new ‘runabout’ aircraft.
Despite this, Bob was promoted to acting Squadron Leader after completing the Junior Management Course at RAF Cranwell; and posted as A Flight Commander to 214 (FMS) Squadron flying the B-17F & G ‘Flying Fortress’ from RAF Oulton to the north of Norwich. And Bob’s luck continued to hold given that as he returned on three engines from one countermeasure operation, he was given priority to land and the aircraft ahead was instructed to ‘go round again’. Unfortunately, this aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter intruder. A short time after, the intruder returned to shoot up the de-briefing room just as Bob and one of his crew were leaving, somehow missing them completely.
Bob remained on 214 Squadron until the end of the war, completing some 12 operations, including the Dresden raid, before VE day stopped all operational flying. He was recommended for a DFC by his Sqn and Stn Cdr. It was refused at Group level ‘for reasons unknown’. Bob believed he had been considered ‘reluctant’ in his operational flying following a countermeasure mission, for which he had volunteered, but had turned back because of a complete lights failure in the aircraft.
After the war, Bob wanted to remain flying and was offered and accepted an extension to his wartime commission as a Flight Lieutenant flying the B24 ‘Liberator’, In September 1945 Bob was posted to the B24 Ground school and in October, joined his 102 Squadron of Transport Command at RAF Bassingbourne engaged mainly in trooping flights to Karachi, Indian, and was to fly the last operational Liberator sortie.
In February 1946 Bob joined 53 Squadron at RAF Upwood on the same aircraft and task, before converting to the Avro ‘York’ at RAF Waterbeach to join No 242 Squadron at Oakington (previously Douglas Bader’s fighter Squadron) flying lengthy trooping flights to Singapore. It was on this route in 1947 with 40 Squadron that he collected his second Court Martial.
He was flying down the Gulf towards Karachi, a familiar route, when he caught up with another of the Squadron ‘Yorks’ and they decided to do a little unauthorized formation flying – which might have passed unnoticed had there not been a slight collision in a turn to port! Both aircraft recovered to land safely but damage was obvious. Bob returned home under close arrest, receiving a reprimand, loss of his B/VIP flying category and grounded for a period working in Squadron ops, allowed only to fly freighting sorties. However, the other non-commissioned pilot was dismissed from the Service.
But then came the Berlin Airlift in the summer of 1948 and over a period of 10 months with 40 Squadron flying Yorks, Bob flew 330 trips into the city.
After his outstanding efforts on the airlifts, in the summer of 1949, he was posted to RAF White Waltham, as personal pilot to CinC Home Command - Air Marshall Sir Robert Foster, flying the De Havilland ‘Dove/Devon’. Dressed in white overalls, Bob and his navigator were exceptional aviators – a necessity in the VIP role. This was demonstrated when, returning to White Waltham, the airfield was covered in very low cloud with poor forward visibility. Bob and his Nav had worked out a procedure for just this eventuality, there being no radar or other landing aids available. The procedure meant flying low following a railway line until, reaching a known point, they would turn on to a specific heading where the airfield runway should be quickly sighted. This they did, however, on landing, they were confronted by their AM. All he had seen from his window was the cloud and poor visibility. He had said nothing during the flight given his wife accompanied him and he didn’t want her to worry, but he was shaken. He congratulated Bob and his Nav on getting them down safely. However, he made it clear that he had no wish for them to repeat the procedure again!
It was during this period that Bob met and married his second wife, an ex ATS girl from Gravesend – Ann Simpson.
Throughout the tour at RAF White Waltham Bob clocked up 500 hours with the AM on his recruiting drives. When Air Marshall Sir Robert Foster was promoted to Air Chief Marshall (to become effectively CinC RAF Germany) Bob and his navigator went with him, converting to Vickers ‘Valetta C2’ at RAF Dishforth. Based at Bad Eilsen/Buckeburg, through 1951-3, Bob went on to fly famous politicians/world leaders including German leaders, Conrad Adenauer and Willi Brandt, who rewarded him with a case of Rhine wine. He was awarded his AFC recommended by his ACM, but in his usual stubborn way insisted that if he was to be decorated, then so should his Master Navigator, who was duly awarded the AFM.
In early 1955 Bob returned to the UK to RAF Dishforth to join the Transport Command Examining Unit, where he qualified to examine pilots all over the world.
It was in this period that Bob’s second marriage ended in divorce – largely due to an extra-marital affair with a lady whom Bob met on a visit to the jewelers, Aspreys, where she worked. But then, in 1956, through the divorce proceedings, he met his third wife, Eunice, who shared a flat with the lady involved and they went on to be married in 1961 and to share the rest of his life together.
In 1958 he was posted to his first real ground job as a Flight Commander at the Officers Initial Training School. His final posting was to the Personal Dept of the Air Ministry in Theobalds Rd. In the summer of 1963 he retired under the then Queens Regulations at the age of 43.
His RAF career spanned 23 years of which 20 were spent in the cockpit. He’d flown 23 different aircraft and types. He’d flown 30 wartime operations and 330 flights on the Berlin Airlift. In the process he flew a total of some 7315 hours, of which 4300 were on multi engine aircraft.
Bob’s other two great passions were his beloved Bull Terrier dogs, of which he had nine over 45 years; and cars, particularly large American cars and driving them. On leaving the RAF he went back to North America and bought a van to spend a couple of months driving from Toronto to Los Angeles and back. On returning to the UK, he tried a job in insurance working for Legal and General, but lasted only 3 days. Finally, he became a chauffeur – first running his own business for a couple of years until he went broke, then as a freelance chauffeur, then as a company director’s personal chauffeur where he was overworked and had his employment come to an abrupt end with an accident with their Rolls Royce.
In the early 1970s Bob became personal chauffeur to a Bahrain business man, until he was sacked for driving the man to the tradesman’s entrance of his destination instead of to the front! Finally, from the earlier contact he had made, he became a chauffeur with the Bahrain Embassy for whom he worked for the ensuing 13 years until his final retirement in 1990 at 70 years of age.
Bob was a survivor. In overcoming alcoholism, he became a supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous. Failing eyesight forced him to give up his love of owning and driving large American cars. When his eyesight deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t read, he became a fan of ‘talking books’. Always, his dry sense of humour came to the fore. He embraced life to the full and was much cared for and loved by his loyal wife, Eunice.
Bob passed away nearing the end of his 87th year on Sunday 3rd June 2007 in St Mary’s hospital, Paddington, from multiple organ failure.
Perhaps Bob would have been the first to say ‘my time has come’.
Our thanks to 214 Squadron Association for permission to use the abridged memorial piece taken from ‘Nightjar’, their Association Newsletter.
Our thanks also to Rod Vowler who brought this to our attention and helped in collating information about Bob. Rod adds –
There has been no mention that Bob went all over the world photographing RAF graves. He did
my Uncle’s crew in Hanover. I cannot remember who put me in contact with him, but I rang him.
The very next Saturday he was in Hanover taking the pictures. He wouldn’t ever take any money
for them. Of course I bought him a few drinks. We used to have long chats after that,
Rod
Bob Davies & his Halifax crew at No 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit, Riccall. L-R
Sgt R E Burn RCAF, Nav Sgt S Brown RAF RG, Flt Lt B D (Bob) Davies RAF P,
Sgt W Scarf RAF FE, Sgt Hayworth RAF TG, FO R Corbett RCAF BA, Sgt Tither RAF WOP
This article is from the Spring 2009 issue of Confound and Destroy
