LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Charles William HAY
Service No: 6467
Born: Lady Bay TAS, April 1887
Enlisted in the Army: 11 January 1915
Unit: Training Depot, Australian Flying Corps, attached to No. 26 (Training) Squadron RAF
Died: Aircraft Accident, Scotland, 8 April 1918, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Elizabeth Hay, of 39, Burnett Street, Hobart, Tasmania. Born at Lady Bay, Huon, Tasmania
Place of Association: Huon TAS
Remembered: Arras Flying Services Memorial, Arras, Nord Pas de Calais, France
Remembered: Memorial, Montrose Cemetery, Scotland
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 8 April 1918, Lieutenant Hay’s aircraft Sopwith Camel B7461 dived into the sea near Montrose, Scotland. A witness reported that the aircraft the aircraft was brought down in a left and then a right spin from 2,000 feet to abut 300 feet and then dived into the sea. It appeared that the machine was under control. It was presumed that Lieutenant Hay has misjudged his altitude and flown into the sea.
A folio of Lieutenant Hay’s Service Record (scanned page 71) states that a UK Register of Memorials shows a memorial was placed in the Montrose Cemetery.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, HAY C W LIEUTENANT