LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Roy Stephen HAYWARD
Service No: 443674
Born: Sydney NSW, 29 September 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 November 1943
Unit: Air Gunnery School, West Sale VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident (Air Gunnery School Anson aircraft LT714), Stradbroke VIC, 6 September 1945, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Sale War Cemetery, Victoria
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Oswald Harry and Rose May Hayward, of Epping, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Epping NSW
Remembered: Panel 116, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Epping Presbyterian Church Memorial Organ, Epping NSW
On 6 September 1945, Anson LT714 took off from West Sale aerodrome to carry out exercise No. 3 air to ground firing at the gunnery range at Stradbroke. The aircraft was flying over the target indicator when it struck the indicator with its starboard wing, crashed and burned. It was considered that the accident was due to an unauthorised low dive on to the target. Flight Sergeant Hayward was killed and the other crew members were injured.
The crew members of LT714 were:
Flight Sergeant Roy Stephen Hayward, (443674) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald Alexander McKenzie (450086) (Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 14 May 1946
Sergeant Kevin Douglas Moody (449108) (Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 26 October 1945
Sergeant Joseph Munro (444183) (Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 May 1946
Flight Sergeant (later Squadron Leader) Joseph Arthur Strickland (16764) (O535) (Second Pilot) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 8 February 1974
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, 166/17/430; A9845, 64
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line