Arthur-Rhys Davids

Was RD actually brought down by Kurt Wolff on the day of Ball's death or was he simply damaged by Wolff? Also, did he fly anything other than the SE-5(a) during his combat career?

[alex_revell]

Lewis.
I have six copies of Sagittarius Rising and I first read it about 1943. There is no reference to Cecil seeing Voss' death. Cecil was wounded on July 7th '17 and sent home to England on the 13th July 1917. He was not at the Front in September 1917. Cecil was a great friend and I loved him dearly, but, as one member of the squadron put it to me. 'Cecil was always a bit of a showman'. It's doubtful, for instance if he was the last person to see Ball - he makes no mention of it in his combat report of May 7th - this was almost certainly Cyril Crowe. In his combat report Crowe said that he flew into the cloud after Ball, but when I interviewed him in the 60s he told me that he hadn't, thinking (rightly) that it was too dangerous and pointless.
Yes, It's a great book, for all that.
Alex

[Ginger.]

Capt Lewis,
now you know,clamber from the wreckage a wiser man,the only thing burnt is your tail feathers.Look up,that SE5 doing victory rolls high in the empty blue is Alex Revell Ace Of Aces!!!

[Graeme]

Now, now Ginger, stop being smug - anyway, Biggles wouldn't like you gloating.

Would Alex like to be remembered as the Ace of Aces solely for flaming a Forumite? I don't think so, any more than Mick Mannock would have liked the soubriquet King of the Air Fighters simply because of the number of victories he achieved.

Let's just thank Alex for being the man who gave us the definitive works on 56 Sqn and Arthur Rhys Davids and leave it at that.

Graeme

[Ginger.]

Sorry for laughing.Not every SE bimbling along is a sitter sometimes they're a decoy.Did Cecil Lewis make more than one draft of his classic book?
Alex states he has six copies so I wonder if they are slightly different?