Richard Bell - Davies Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies VC CB DSO AFC ( 19 May 1886 – 26 February 1966 ) , also known as Richard Bell - Davies , was a British Royal Navy officer and World War I fighter pilot . He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross . Background . Born in Kensington , London , Davies was orphaned by the age of six and was brought up by an uncle , a doctor . Davies enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1901 . In 1910 he took private flying lessons , and in 1913 he was accepted into the Royal Naval Air Service ( RNAS ) . Distinguished Service Order . 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 . Both were awarded the DSO : Victoria Cross . Davies was then posted to the Dardanelles , and was awarded the Victoria Cross on 1 January 1916 for an action at Ferrijik Junction , in Bulgaria near the border with Ottoman - controlled Europe , on 19 November 1915 . He was 29 years old , and in command of No . 3 Squadron RNAS . His citation read : This was the first combat search and rescue by aircraft in history . Like the search and rescue efforts of the future , Davies ' action sprang from the fervent desire to keep a compatriot from capture or death at the hands of the enemy ; unlike most of those future efforts , it was a one - man impromptu action that succeeded because of a peculiarity in construction of his aircraft . The Nieuport 10 he was flying was a single seat model which had had its front cockpit decked over . When Davies picked him up under rifle fire , Smylie wriggled past Davies and through his controls into the tiny roofed - over front compartment . Smylie was so thoroughly wedged among the controls that , upon landing , it took two hours to extricate him . Davies was also mentioned in despatches after the Gallipoli campaign . At the end of the war he was awarded the Air Force Cross and the Croix de Guerre with Palm . Post World War I . Davies was first lieutenant of HMS " Lion " in 1919 - 20 ; in charge of the Air Section of the Naval Staff 1920 – 24 ; and executive officer of HMS " Royal Sovereign " in the Atlantic Fleet 1924 – 26 . He was promoted to Captain in 1926 and was again in charge of the Air Section of the Naval Staff 1926 – 28 . He was Chief Staff Officer to the Rear - Admiral commanding 1st Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean 1929 – 30 , and Liaison Officer for the Fleet Air Arm at the Air Ministry 1931 – 33 . He then commanded HMS " Cornwall " on the China station 1933 – 35 and the naval base at Devonport ( HMS " Drake " ) 1936 – 38 . He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1938 and from 1939 – 41 was Rear Admiral , Naval Air Stations , based at RNAS Lee - on - Solent ( HMS " Daedalus " ) . He was appointed CB in the King ' s Birthday Honours of 1939 . Davies was promoted to Vice Admiral upon retiring on 29 May 1941 . He then joined the Royal Naval Reserve with a reduction in rank to Commander . As an RNR officer , he served as a Convoy commodore , and as commissioning captain of the escort carrier HMS " Dasher " and the trials carrier HMS " Pretoria Castle " . He left the RNR in 1944 . He died at RNH Haslar in Gosport , Hampshire . His Victoria Cross is on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil , Somerset .