LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Maurice Charles Supple HAYES
Service No: 401090
Born: Armidale NSW, 14 June 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 3 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 3 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft FS482), Adriatic Sea, 15 April 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Rita Hayes; husband of Sheelagh Maria Hayes, of Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 15 April 1944, Kittyhawk FS482 flown by Flight Lieutenant Hayes was leading the Second Section of a 12 aircraft formation detailed to strafe a railway truck. The formation passed through intense Breda anti-aircraft fire from the target, and at 1310 hours FS482 was seen by other pilots to pull up to 500 feet and then make a shallow dive into the sea. FS482 crashed one mile off shore near San Bernedetto and sank immediately.
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, 166/17/541
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186