Richard Harold Davies – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 40 Squadron

Sergeant Richard Harold Davies – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 40 Squadron

Early Life and Family Background

Richard Harold Davies was born in 1922 in Swansea, the son of William Harold Davies and Agnes Annie Edwards. He grew up in a household that valued education and professional ambition, qualities reflected in both his parents’ occupations and his own early career path.

The Family in the 1939 Register

1939 Register

The 1939 Register records the Davies family living at 47 Mount Pleasant, Swansea. Richard’s father, William H. Davies, was employed as an Elementary School Teacher, while his mother, Agnes A. Davies, undertook Unpaid Domestic Duties. Their daughter, Marian A. G. Davies, worked as a Ladies’ Hairdresser, and Richard Harold, then seventeen, was recorded as an Architect’s Articled Pupil, indicating a promising future in the architectural profession before wartime service intervened.

Service with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Richard enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, where he trained as a navigator and attained the rank of Sergeant. He was posted to No. 40 Squadron, a long‑established Wellington unit operating in the Mediterranean theatre. By early 1944, the squadron was based at Foggia Main, Italy, from where it undertook night bombing operations across the Balkans and northern Italy.

Final Operation: 19 January 1944

Vickers Wellington X

On 19 January 1944, Sergeant Davies was serving as navigator aboard a Vickers Wellington X during a night operation. On the return journey, the aircraft crashed in the hills near San Marco, the cause of the accident remaining uncertain. All on board were killed, and the loss was recorded as one of several tragic incidents suffered by Wellington crews operating from the Foggia airfields during the harsh winter of 1943–44.

Richard Harold Davies
Bari War Cemetery, Italy credit - findagrave

The Crew of the Wellington

Sergeant Davies was lost alongside his fellow airmen — Pilot Officer Leslie Thomas Puddephat, Sergeant George Wilson McNab, Sergeant Maurice Newton Jones, and Flight Sergeant Thomas Owen. All were recovered and laid to rest at Bari War Cemetery, Italy, where their graves stand together as a testament to their shared service and sacrifice.