Selected by Diana Manipud, Archives Assistant
Group Captain Albert Peter Vincent Daly was posted with 29 Squadron, when he was shot down over Achiet-le-Grand on the 1st February 1917 by Lt Werner Voss. Daly was wounded in the shoulder but had managed to glide his plane down albeit within enemy lines, and was immediately taken as a Prisoner of War. Initially, he was listed as missing and presumably killed, but on a list received from Berlin on 12th March 1917, the Prisoners of War International Agency notified relevant parties that Daly had been taken and had arrived at a POW camp in Stralsund-Danholm. Daly was exchanged into Holland for internment on May 7th 1918, and was finally repatriated on 31st August 1918.
Daly’s papers include this letter from a fellow officer to Daly’s mother, 17 Apr 1917, with an eyewitness account of Daly’s forced landing. The officer writes “…I understand from reports of other pilots that they were attacked by a German scout patrol far exceeding in numbers their own. Capt Daly himself who was leader put up a very fine fight but most unfortunately had his engine hit and had to come down”. He goes on to say that Daly was “a very fine leader with oceans of pluck…I expect he will be treated very well, as all the R.F.C. seem to be. There seems to be a very different feeling between the two Flying Corps than between the infantry”. I find this letter interesting as you can really envisage the dogfight that went on between the planes!
Ref: Daly
http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma/collection/d/da35-001