Jeffery Day
Miles Jeffery Game Day | |
---|---|
Born |
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England | 1 December 1896
Died |
27 February 1918 21) West of Dunkirk, France | (aged
Commemorated at | Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1915–1918 |
Rank | Flight Commander |
Unit |
HMS Vindex HMS Cassandra No. 13 Squadron RNAS |
Awards | Distinguished Service Cross |
Flight Commander Miles Jeffery Game Day DSC, (1 December 1896 – 27 February 1918) was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories,[1] and also a war poet.
Background and education
Jeffery Day, as he was commonly known, was born in St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, one of four children born to George Dennis Day (1860–1945), a solicitor, and his wife Margaret Jane (née Davis) (1862–1945).[2] He was educated at Sandroyd and Repton Schools.[3]
Military career
Day joined the Royal Navy as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant, and was confirmed in the rank of flight sub-lieutenant on 21 August 1915.[4] He received the Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 1949 after flying a Caudron biplane at the Royal Naval Flying School, Eastchurch, on 2 October 1915.[5]
He was first stationed aboard the seaplane carrier Vindex, part of the Harwich Force, where he gained a reputation as a skilled and daring flyer,[6] and was promoted to flight lieutenant on 31 December 1916.[7] Day chafed at the lack of activity at Harwich, and gained a transfer to the light cruiser Cassandra.[8] Following her grounding in August 1917, he was posted to the experimental air station at RNAS Kingsnorth on the Isle of Grain.[9]
Day was already an experienced pilot when he joined No. 13 Squadron RNAS, based at Dunkirk, on 19 December 1917. Between 3 January and 19 February 1918 he scored five victories while flying a Sopwith Camel.[1] On 27 February, he was shot down in flames into the sea about 25 miles west of Dunkirk by a German seaplane.[10]
According to his commanding officer's report:
- "...He was shot down by six German aircraft which he attacked single-handed, out to sea. He had out-distanced his flight, I think because he wished to break the [enemy's] formation, in order to make it easier for the less experienced people behind him to attack. He hit the enemy and they hit his machine, which burst into flames; but, not a bit flurried, he nose-dived, flattened out, and landed perfectly on the water. He climbed out of his machine and waved his fellow-pilots back to their base; being in aeroplanes [not sea-planes] they could not assist him."[11]
A search was immediately launched, but no trace of him was found.[11] Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England.[12]
Honours and awards
- Distinguished Service Cross
- Flight Lieutenant (acting Flight Commander) Miles Jeffrey Game Day, RNAS (since killed).
- For great skill and bravery as a fighting pilot. On the 25th January he attacked, single-handed, six enemy triplanes, one of which he shot down. On the 2nd February 1918 he attacked and destroyed an enemy two-seater machine on reconnaissance at 18,000 feet. He destroyed several enemy machines in a short space of time, and, in addition, had numerous indecisive engagements.[13]
Poetry
Day began writing poetry during his spare time, initially humorous verses for his fellow officers in the style of W. S. Gilbert,[14] but later, inspired by Rupert Brooke's The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, he began to compose longer serious poems.[6] Only three of these; "On the Wings of the Morning", "An Airman's Dream" and part of "To My Brother", were published in his lifetime, the first in Cornhill, and the other two in The Spectator.[15] "To My Brother" was inspired by the death of his older brother Dennis Ivor Day, who was serving as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery when he was shot by a sniper at Vermelles on 25 September 1915, finally dying from the injury on 7 October.[2]
Day's collected poems were published post-war, and two of his poems were anthologized in A Treasury of War Poetry, British and American Poems of the World War, 1914-1919, edited by George Herbert Clarke,[16] and also in Cambridge Poets 1914-1920: an Anthology, compiled by Edward Davison, published in 1920.[17]
References
- Notes
- 1 2 "Miles Jeffrey Game Day". The Aerodrome. 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
- 1 2 Stephenson, M. (2014). "Dennis Ivor Day, oarsman, of St Ives & Cambridge". St Ives Rowing Club. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- ↑ Day (1919), p.7.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 29360. p. 11044. 9 November 1915.
- ↑ "Aviators' Certificates". Flight. VII (858): 850. 5 November 1915. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
- 1 2 Day (1919), p.16.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29886. p. 14. 29 December 1916.
- ↑ Day (1919), p.18.
- ↑ Day (1919), p.19.
- ↑ Shores, Christopher F.; Franks, Norman & Guest, Russell (1990). Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-19-4.
- 1 2 Day (1919), p.8.
- ↑ "Day, Miles Jeffrey Game". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette: no. 13225. p. 1057. 19 March 1918.
- ↑ Day (1919), p.14.
- ↑ Day (1919), p.63.
- ↑ Clarke, George Herbert, ed. (1917). A Treasury of War Poetry, British and American Poems of the World War, 1914-1919. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Wikisource.
- ↑ "Anthologies". Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- Bibliography
- Day, Jeffery (1919). Poems and Rhymes. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd. Retrieved 18 November 2014.