Hayes, Allan Edward

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-02-23

Birth Date: 1923

Born:

Son of Cyril E. and Frances Hayes, of Preston, Ontario.

Home: Preston, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

111 OTU- Operational Training Unit

Base

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Flying Officer

Service Numbers

J/19172
Prev: R/91372

111 Operational Training Unit. The pilot of Liberator aircraft BZ 746 was practising circuits and landings when he overtook and collided with Liberator aircraft FL 994 three miles south of the Windsor Field Control Tower. FL 994 made a safe crash landing on the airfield but BZ 746 flew into the ground and crashed. Seven RAF airmen; Sergeants J.R. Birch, C. Jackson, F/O5 L.A. Birkett, G.D. Cribbes, B.W. Hutchings, A.I. Tomlinson, and FS A. Holland were also killed.

Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7

(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.
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The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.

Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page


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