Service Number 118396
Service RAF
Unit 295 Squadron
Regiment Royal Air Force
Killed in Action: 19th February 1943
Buried Saumur Communal Cemetery
Biography
In 1908, Herbert Charles Hayes, a 27 year old heating and ventilation engineer, married Lilian Grace Hole. They went on to have four children, Denis Harmer Hayes (b. 1910), Graham Hayes (b.1914), Malcolm Cedric Hayes (b. 1919) and Harold Austin Hayes (b. 1921). Three years after their marriage, in 1911, Herbert, by then the branch manager of the heating and ventilation engineers, Lilian and Denis were living at 9, St. Michael's Crescent Headingley, along with Herbert's mother and a general servant. By 1921, the family had moved to 14, North Park Grove, Roundhay in Leeds. By this time, Denis Harmer Hayes was not living with the family (we have not yet found him in the 1921 census) but Graham and Malcolm were listed. The family now had three servants helping to look after them, one a nurse/housemaid who probably had some responsibility for Malcolm, who was by then 1 year 11 months old.
There is then a gap in the records of the Hayes family until we find them again in the 1932 electoral roll in Kilnhill, Linton, marking their first connection with the village. Further electoral records continue to show the family at Kilnhill from 1932 to 1936, and on to the 1939 registration act list. By that time Denis Harmer Hayes was married and living with his wife at Delburn, Pannal.
Our story here deals with Malcolm Cedric Hayes. Given that he was not 18 until 1937 we do not find him on the electoral rolls in Linton. We can however pick up his story from his service records.
Malcolm Cedric Hayes appears to have joined the Territorial Army just before the war started in May 1939, joining 117 Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery with a service number of 902997 and rank of Bombadier. 117 Field Regiment RA was part of the 2nd London Division, a second line Territorial Army Division organised as a motor Division as part of Eastern Command. 117th Field Regiment Royal Artillery was created in May 1939 was the Territorial Army doubled in size following the Munich crisis. It was formed at Parsons Green, London, by separating the 255 (20th London) and 256 (17th London) Batteries of 64th (7th London) Field Regiment. The new 117 Field Regiment was organised as Regimental HQ (RHQ) and two batteries each of 12 guns. These were 18-pounders of World War I pattern, though now equipped with pneumatic tyres and towed by motorised gun tractors.
Malcolm Hayes' service with 117 Field Regiment ended in December 1939 when he joined 123 Officer Cadet Training Unit. This unit, based in Catterick, provided training to the next Royal Artillery Officers. It took about 50 cadets for training over about 5 months and provided instruction in gun drill, driving, vehicle maintenance, map reading, man-management and fitness/endurance. At the end of his 5 month course Malcolm Hayes was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with a service number 132991, with effect from 25th May 1940, his commission being announced in the London Gazette on the 31st May.
We do not know what unit Malcolm served with upon commission but it is likely to have been as an Artillery Officer. The next records of Malcolm Hayes' service is therefore somewhat of a surprise - his next roles were connected with flying and the RAF. We don't know whether Malcolm volunteered for such a service change, but the artillery were becoming more connected with air support and air observation, and it may be that was the start of his interest and transfer. On the 7th June 1941, he entered No. 2 TT - likely to be No 2 School of Technical Training, RAF at RAF Cosford. From this Malcolm Hayes seems to have progressed to a flying role, and on the 30th July 1941 he was posted to No. 19 Elementary Flying Training School (19EFTS). 19EFTS was at this time based at RAF Sealand, in Flintshire, North Wales. EFTSs provided the ab initio training for pilots, and 19EFTU was equipped with Tiger Moth aircraft to provide this first flying training. After elementary flying training, future pilots transferred to Service Flying Training Schools, Malcolm Hayes being posted to No. 14 Service Flying Training School (14 SFTS) at based at this time at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire. Training at 14 SFTS focussed on multi-engine flying training with Airspeed Oxfords.
Malcolm Hayes was next posted to No 6 SFTS (on the 23rd December 1941) at RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire. While with 6 SFTS, on the 21st February 1942, Malcolm Hayes resigned his commission as a army 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on probation in the RAFVR. His new service number was 118396.
After flying training, RAF aircrew next undertook further training for 4 to 6 weeks at an Operational Training Unit (OTU) and Malcolm Hayes was posted to No. 42 OTU in 70 Group RAF based at RAF Andover. 42 OTU specialised in training RAF army support crews.
Training complete, Malcolm Hayes was posted, on the 22nd June 1942 to his first operational squadron, No 296 Squadron. 296 Squadron had been formed at Ringway Airport near Manchester on 25 January 1942 from the Glider Exercise Unit as an airborne forces unit, equipped with obsolete Hawker Hectors and Hawker Harts, and had moved to RAF Netheravon to concentrate on glider training. In June 1942 it began to receive Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys. Its role was to tow Hotspur Gliders on training flights as the country geared up to airborne troops being inserted into the battlefield by parachute or glider. In July 1942, while Malcolm was with them, B flight of 296 squadron, flying Hawker Hectors, was redesignated the Glider Pilot Exercise Unit (GPEU) as part of No. 38 Group, RAF. However Malcolm's time with 296 Squadron/GPEU, was short, as he transferred to 296's partner unit No. 295 Squadron on the 3rd August 1942 and on the 3rd August 1942, 295 Squadron's Operational Record Book records that M C Hayes from the Gilder Pilot Exercise Unit joined the squadron.
Near the start of the Second World War the type of warfare being waged evolved and the build up of airborne troops and capability meant that a need arose for specialist airborne forces squadrons to drop paratroops and tow gliders into action. No 295 Squadron RAF was one such unit. It was a new squadron, formed on the day that Malcolm Hayes joined it, on 3rd August 1942 as an Airborne Forces unit at RAF Netheravon. The squadron was equipped with three Flights of Whitley Mk.Vs.
Basic flying training started within days of the squadron forming, and towing practice, cross-country flights, night flying practice flights and practicing parachute drops, albeit at this stage with dummies, all started in August 1942. Unfortunately the Squadron's Operational Record book, records the number of aircraft taking part each day in the various practices, but no details of the crew members involved are given, so we cannot know which of the flights, and how many of the flights, Malcolm Hayes was involved with. Finally on the 26th August 1942, 295 squadron took part in its first drop of live parachute troops when 84 men were dropped by the squadron. In the next few nights practice and experiments in dropping parachute troops at night were carried out.
Around this time an important event took place in Malcolm's personal life. The New Milton & District Advertiser & Lymington Times for Saturday, August 29th 1942, announcing the engagement of Pilot Office Malcolm Cedric Hayes, RAFVR, third son of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes of Linton near Wetherby, to Margaret Joyce, only daughter of Major L.W. Learmount, D.S.O., M.C., and Mrs. Learmount, of 'Upwood', Tiptoe, Lymington, Hants, and late of Malaya.
Parachute drop training continued throughout September 1942 and then on the 3rd October 1942 a regular training route started when one aircraft towed a Hotspur glider from Netheravon to Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland. This route was nicknamed the Irish Ferry Route.
While Malcolm Hayes was settling in to life on an operational RAF Squadron, his brother Graham Hayes had become a member of the Small Scale Raiding Force, a commando type unit involved in raids on the French coast. Although he would have been unaware of the exact details, Malcolm must have known of the type of work Graham was doing since Graham was awarded the Military Cross for his work (See the entry on this web site for Graham Hayes for his full story). The dangers of commando work would have come home to Malcolm around this time, as, on the 13th September 1942, Graham Hayes went missing from another raid on the French coast.
295 Squadron continued its training into November 1942 and also laid on a couple of demonstrations - on the 5th October one aircraft towed a full laden Horsa glider and another a fully laden Hotspur glider as part of a demonstration for Army Staff College, and on the 3rd November three aircraft each carrying 10 paratroops and 2 containers took part in demonstrations for the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
On the 6th November 1942, 295 Squadron took part in its first operational sorties over France in the form of leaflet dropping missions over France, so called 'Nickel Raids' or 'Nickelling'. These raids dropped propaganda leaflets over occupied French cities, but they were also used to provide young crews with experience in flying over enemy territory before taking part in 'real' operations, and to distract German defences from larger raids.
Malcolm Hayes flew on this night, 6th November 1942, in his first operational sortie on a Nickelling raid on Rouen.
November 1942 continued with more Nickel raids (not including Malcolm Hayes), parachute drop training and practicing glider towing. On the 17th November, the first fatalities involving 295 Squadron took place. Seven aircraft were detailed to take off from Netheravon each carrying 10 paratroops and two or three containers. Six of the aircraft in line astern dropped their paratroops on a drop zone South of Salisbury, but one aircraft crashed on taking off into a hangar at Netheravon, killing three of the crew and five paratroops. The rear air gunner and five paratroops escaped. Those killed were P/O John Keith Matthews (the pilot), Sgt Frederick Edward Hewitt (observer) and Sgt James Maden Sutcliffe (Wireless operator) and Privates Ivor Williams, Albert Edward Williams, Stanley Samuel Reader, Raymond Stanley Towler, Robert Edmund Brownrigg and Cpl James John Lewis, all of the 6th Battalion (10th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers) Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps.
December 1942 started for 295 Squadron with Exercise 'Goshawk' - a demonstration for the Press in conjunction with 296 Squadron. Six aircraft of the squadron took part, three towing Horsa gliders carrying the press and three dropping paratroops on a drop zone at Dumbell Wood, 2½ miles south of Netheravon aerodrome. On the 5th December the next Nickel raid took place and this time Malcom Hayes was one of the pilots to Lille.
A week later Malcolm Hayes was part of another Nickel Raid, this time to Orleans.
More glider towing and paratroop dropping exercises were held throughout the rest of December 1942, followed by more Nickel raids on the 30th and 31st December 1942 - with Malcolm Hayes taking part in the sortie on the 31st.
The start of 1943 saw a return to continued exercises, but the danger of even such practices became apparent when one aircraft engaged in circuits and landings at Netheravon crashed during the crew's first experience of night flying from the aerodrome and crashed at Upavon, killing the pilot, Pilot Office J.C. Curtis; Observer, Sgt J. O'Donnell; and wireless operator Sgt R.R. Phillips. The rear gunner, Sgt Knee, escaped with multiple injuries.
Almost daily paratroop dropping and glider towing continued throughout January and into February 1943, but there is no mention of Malcolm Hayes in the Operational Record Book, so it may be that he had some leave, or might might be connected to the fact that 295 squadron were now being supplemented by Halifax V bombers, and Malcolm Hayes may have been learning to fly that type.
Whatever the reason, Malcolm Hayes next appears as the pilot of a Halifax bomber as part of 295 Squadron's efforts on the 19th February 1943.
Twelve Whitleys and two Halifaxes were detailed for operations over France on the night of the 19th February 1943. But this was not to be another Nickel raid, instead 295 Squadron were to take part in their first bombing raid. The target was an electrical transformer and installation at Distre, near Saumur in France.
Halifax Z123, piloted by Malcolm Hayes, failed to return. This must have been a devastating blow to Malcolm's parents back home in Linton. Their sons Graham and Malcolm were now both missing in action and they had no news of their fates.
Figure 1: A photograph of the Operations Room Board at RAF Netheravon for the night of the 19th Febrary 1942 showing the crews attacking Distre, and the fate of Malcolm Hayes' crew. As a coincidence note that the pilot of one of the 296 Squadron aircraft that night flying to Distre was Wing Commander May, who flew Major Geoffrey Appleyard on the last flight he made in 1943 (See Geoffrey Appleyard's story).
Back in West Yorkshire, a report appeared in the Wetherby News.
Returning to the raid itself, one mystery surrounds one of the aircraft's crew that night. In one part of the Operational Record book, the Flight Engineer for the flight is shown as Squadron Leader Campbell Crichton-Miller, whereas in another listing of the crew, he is shown as a passenger. All the more strange as Squadron Leader Crichton-Miller was actually a Senior Meteorological Officer of 38 Group RAF.
Crichton-Miller had graduated with a First in Physics from The University of Oxford and in 1939, after a brief spell in the Territorial Army, had joined the RoyalAir Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in their Meteorological Branch. Here he made significant contributions for Army Cooperation Command. He had played a vital role in Operation BITING, the first combined force operation of the war when paratroops dropped in France to capture, dismantle and bring back a German operational radar, before being extracted by the Royal Navy. Crichton-Miller's role was in predicting the weather that was suitable for the paratroops. After Operation BITING, Crichton-Miller joined 38 Group Headquarters at RAF Netheravon. As well as the mundane weather forecasting he undertook significant operational research for example in predicting and countering the weather conditions that were causing widespread air sickness amongst troops carried by Hotspur gliders. After BITING he was critically aware that Army airborne operations were critically dependent on weather, and he was a natural choice when Operational Research Section wanted advice on the way in which meteorological conditions affect night illumination and paratroop drops. It was in order to further his research that Crichton-Miller seems to have taken part in the raid on Distre on the 19th/20th February 1943.
This raid, Operation SPARKS, was designed to provide the air crew with experience of precision navigation over enemy territory and identification of small unlit targets, to simulate the massive airborne operations planned for the future. The difference was this time they would drop bombs, but from heights at which paratroops would normally be dropped (500-1000ft). Crichton-Miller planned the weather forecast and determined an optimum date to fly, then joined the aircraft for its raid. As they approached Distre, the aircraft descended to between 750 and 1000ft, but, unfortunately the anti-aircraft defences in the area were much stronger than intelligence had suggested and two of the aircraft, including the Halifax piloted by Malcolm Hayes and carrying Crichton-Miller were shot down.
Eventually around May 1943, Malcolm's family received the bad news that Malcolm had been killed in the raid.
Malcolm had beocme engaged in August 1942, but Malcolm and Margaret had not married before his death. Malcolm's brother, Graham Hayes, was also killed in World War 2 and his service is detailed here.
Locally, Malcom and Graham Hayes are both commemorated in Linton Memorial Hall.
Biography last updated 28 June 2022 18:10:53.
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