LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Bruce HAYNES
Service No: 418112
Born: Glenthompson VIC, 2 October 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 620 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fairford
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 620 Squadron Stirling aircraft EF244), near Fairford, 19 May 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of the Revd. Frederic Ernest Haynes and Ethel Florence McMillan Haynes, of St. Kilda. Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mitcham VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 19 May 1944, Stirling EF244 took off from Fairford detailed to carry out a non-operational glider drop day exercise. The aircraft collided with No. 620 Squadron Halifax LJ880 and crashed and both crews of six were killed.
The crew members of EF244 were:
Sergeant Robert Max Cotterell (1576675) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Albert Thomas Franks (1388884) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Bruce Haynes (418112) (Pilot)
Sergeant Garmon Peter Jones (1535816) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gwilym Powell (1457467) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Walter Taylor (1893532) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
The crew members of Halifax LJ880 were:
Sergeant Norman Harry Flack (1813568) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Richard Owen Francis (41392) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Antony Edmund Hill (1388927) (RAFVR)
Flying Officer Keith Alexander Hills (J/12985) (RCAF)
Flying Officer Llewellyn Quinlan Jenkins (168804) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Richard Kennedy (1516664) (RAFVR)
A later report into the accident stated: “after the glider exercise was completed, twenty four aircraft were returning to the rope drop area in a stream in line astern. Stirling EF244 got off track about a mile to starboard. The crew realized this when about two miles short of the drop area, and altered course to port to pass over it. This they did, but Stirling EF244 struck another aircraft in the stream which was on the correct course. Both aircraft collided at about 400 feet, speed about 135mph, and both broke up on impact.”
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, 166/17/591
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line