LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Phillip Carlisle HAY
Service No: 408105
Born: Hobart TAS, 30 November 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1940
Unit: No. 36 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 36 Squadron Vilderbeest aircraft K4173), Malaya, 26 January 1942, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Isabel Hay; husband of Hilda Nance Hay, of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hobart TAS
Remembered: Column 422, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flying Officer John Douglas Hay (408066)
On 26 January 1942 Vilderbeest K4173 RAF was reported missing after a raid on Endau, Malaya
The crew members of K4108 were:
Flight Sergeant George Ewen (R/65737) (RCAF) (Observer)
Sergeant Phillip Carlisle Hay (408105) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader Bernard Bruce Willmott (37927) (RAF) (Pilot) Evaded Capture, Killed on Air Operations: 26 August 1944
In a statement in 1945 by Warrant Officer Ivor Raymond Jones (400878) (a PoW) reported “in the Endau operation on 26 January 1942, my aircraft was flying next to that of Sergeant Hay. As we peeled off, I saw Hay’s aircraft hit in the petrol tank. It was diving to the deck with a fine spray coming out of the petrol tank. I lost sight of the aircraft after that.” Flight Lieutenant Edward Charlton Eckersley (401274) also a PoW reported in 1945 “Squadron Leader Willmott walked back to his unit from the crash of his aircraft on 26 January 1942 in a dazed condition and reported that Ewan and Hay were both killed.” In a 1947 report on above file it is recorded that the statement attributed to Squadron Leader Willmott could not be confirmed.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/120/363