Edward Raymond Davies – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 9 Squadron

Flying Officer Edward Raymond Davies – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 9 Squadron

Early Life and Family Background

Edward Raymond Davies was born in 1922 in Swansea, the son of Edward Theodore Davies and Anne Olwen Evalaine Jones. He grew up in the city during the interwar years, part of a working family rooted in the industrial communities of Swansea.

The Family in the 1939 Register

1939 Register

The 1939 Register records the Davies family living at 235 Neath Road, Swansea. Edward’s father, Theodore E. Davies, was employed as a Dustman, while his mother, Annie O. E. Davies, undertook Unpaid Domestic Duties. Their daughter Vida I. Davies worked as a Tailoress, and Edward Raymond, then seventeen, was listed as a Student. The youngest, Haydn S. Davies, was recorded as a Can‑Boy, reflecting the early working roles common among young men in pre‑war Swansea.

Service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Avro Lancaster III

Edward enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, where he trained as a navigator and rose to the rank of Flying Officer. He was posted to No. 9 Squadron, one of Bomber Command’s long‑established heavy bomber units, operating the Avro Lancaster III from RAF Bardney, Lincolnshire. By 1943, the squadron was deeply involved in the strategic bombing campaign over Germany.

Final Operation: 23 September 1943

Edward Raymond Davies
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein‑Westfalen, Germany credit - findagrave

On 23 September 1943, Flying Officer Davies took part in a major night raid on Mannheim, a heavily defended industrial city in southwest Germany. His aircraft, a Lancaster III, failed to return from the operation. It was later established that the bomber had crashed at Gerolsheim, approximately four miles northwest of Frankenthal, during the return leg of the mission. The loss was total, and none of the crew survived.

The Crew of the Lancaster

Flying Officer Davies was lost alongside his fellow airmen — Flight Sergeant Gordon Charles Fowler, Sergeant Thomas Elliot Brydon Graham, Pilot Officer Robert Charles Ord, Sergeant George Palmer, Sergeant Rowland Arthur Williams, and Sergeant John Wilson. All were recovered and laid to rest together at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein‑Westfalen, Germany, where their graves stand in honour of their shared sacrifice.