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American World War I flying ace From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Miles Jeffery Game Day | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 1 December 1896 St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England |
| Died | 27 February 1918 (aged 21) West of Dunkirk, France |
| Commemorated at | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1915–1918 |
| Rank | Flight Commander |
| Unit | HMS Vindex HMS Cassandra No. 13 Squadron RNAS |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Cross |
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]
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:
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]
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]
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