The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-01
English Boy Defeats Germany's
Superflyer Voss in Des-
perate Battle.
DOWNS Y BEFORE DEATH
Lieutenant Arthur Rhys Davids Said
to Be One of the Three Elect
Among Bravest of British
Airmen.

there was considerable demand that
the name of the British airman who
accomplished the feat should be re-
vealed. He was Lieut.. Arthur Rhys
Davids, an Elton boy of twenty. In
the official Gazette it is stated that
among his other feats he brought
down nine enemy aircraft in nine
weeks.
But after much anxiety the boys
father, Prof. Rhys Davids, and his
mother, both Oriental scholars of dis
tinction, no longer have any doubt
that their son, missing since last De-
cember, is dead.
In their home on Chipstead Downs
the parents anJ sisters mourn the
brave and daring boy, said to be one
of three very elect among the bravest
of British airmen.
Arthur Rhys Davids, after doing
brilliantly at Summerfield, where, a
kings scholar, he won a Balliol exhi-
bition and the Newcastle scholarship,
took his commission in the Royal Fly
ing corps in the autumn of 1916, leav-
ing his civil service ambitions until
after the war.
Brought Down Twenty-Five Germans.
Young Davids had been good at
sports and he took to flying as though
born to it. He won the NJ. c. with the
bar and the D. S. o. after five months
in France in April, 1917. He brought
down 30 Germans for certain-he
actually saw that number crash-but
he drove down many more out of con-
troll. Among the % were the German
superfyers Voss and Schafer.
The story of the defeat of Voss,
who bad been credited with being the
greatest airman of all the armies, is
thrilling. When Rhys Davids went up
with a squadron of six and four Ger
mans were sighted, it was not so easy
as it seemed, for Voss was among
them. and he took on three of the
British machines. Two of these he
put out of action, causing them to re-
turn home with their engines full of
lead. The third was the boy from
Elton.
Voss and Rhys made a duel of ii.
The Hun was in a triplane, and there
was a most tremendous fight. The
story of it was afterward told to the
family by an officer acquainted with
the facts.
ST want to give Voss all credit"
says Miss Rhys Davids, sister of the
I,,,o .-,,r o;rn,on IN rOnno4inn tho
story. HE had a fearful fight with
the three for twenty minutes, and
then my brother and Voss wheeled
round and round; and then, suddenly,
Voss crashed to earth.
Eyes, my brother spoke of n or
two narrow escapes. On the very first
time he went up out there something
made him turn round, and to his as
constituent he saw a Hun OF his tail.
If he had not glanced round at that
moment he would have been killed.
Worse still, his gun jammed, and for
ten minutes he had to get out of this
machines way by rolling and turn
ing. Then suddenly, to his amaze
ment. the Hun turned tail and went
home. That was one of the narrowest
escapes he had.
"My brother was inclined to fly
recklessly low, and that is probably
how he met his death in October, last
year. We knew he was missing, and
we hoped and hoped for eight weeks
before we had any practical certainty.
Shot "Painted Banana"
"He had very often been in a big
fight of % on each side, and when he
wrote home about such, he said: All
you can think of is pumping lead into
any machine you see and looking out
and avoiding collisions, just missing
each other by perhaps a couple of
feet. He used to laugh when he saw
the German machines painted up like
an unripe banana. He described n
of these machines, and said that when
Ii came toward him he chuckled with
laughter at the curious appearance of
it, and then let fly. He brought the
painted banana down."
And now young Rhys Davids has
himself been brought down. But he
lives a memory of schOOlbOy British
pluck that can never die.
Among other raiders mentioned in
the Gazette is Lieut.. r. Fl. Ayre, r. f.
c., who during one of his "many III
cessfuT raids" bombed an enemy air
ship shed, and on another occasion
bombed a railway station from a
height of 500 feet. He also derailed
part of a train and poured machine
gun fire on its occupants. The mill
tary cross is awarded to him.
Flying at the extremely low alti-
tude of $50 feet, Lieut.. r. B. Ashcroft,
NJ. c. Motifs and Derby, attacked en-
envy troops who were holding up our
infantry. A similar feat was con
plished by Lieut.. A. G. Gondale. NJ. c..
R. F. C. Both those officers gain a bar
to their military cross.
Radiate Happiness.