Red Deer, Alberta
Oxford - AS674 crashed at 1215 hours during a cross-country flight. The aircraft hit high tension wires during a snowstorm, both occupants Leading Aircraftman M.J. Clarke and Flying Officer R.E. Lay were killed and the aircraft destroyed.
Lay, Ronald Edward (Flying Officer)
Killed in Flying Accident 1944-January-02
Birth Date: 1913
Born:
Parents: Son of Mrs. E. Lay, of Tolworth, Surrey, England
Spouse: husband of Isobel W. Lay, of Langham, Essex, England.
Home: Red Deer, Alberta
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RAFVR
Unit
36 SFTS- Service Flying Training School (RAF)
Base
Penhold, Alberta, Canada
Rank
Flying Officer
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
128576
School Daily Diary Entry - 1944-01-02
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Finadagrave.comCrew or Other Personnel
Oxford AS674
Accident Card - Airspeed Oxford Mk. I serial:AS674
This accident involved 1 aircraft on 1944-January-02. Oxford II s/n AS674.
This accident involved 2 people. Clarke MJ, Lay RE
This accident had 2 fatalities. Flying Officer Ronald Edward Lay RAFVR Killed in Flying Accident service no:128576 Oxford AS674, Leading Aircraftman Maxwell John Clarke RAAF Killed in Flying Accident service no:427869 Oxford AS674
Unit Desciption
36 SFTS (36 Service Flying Training School)
Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks training was conducted at a Bombing & Gunnery School. The Service schools were military establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF.
There were two different types of Service Flying Training Schools. Trainees in the fighter pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 14 Aylmer, where they trained in the North American Harvard or North American Yale. Trainees in the bomber, coastal or transport pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.
Airspeed Oxford Crash SFTS36
For Information on RCAF Station Penhold see here
RCAF.Info - RCAF Station Penhold AB
RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Innisfail AB
RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Blackfalds AB
Harvard Historical Aviation Society
Midland Aircraft Recovery Group - Men Of 36 SFTS
Bomber Command Museum Of Canada - 36 SFTS
YouTube - Valour Canada Aerodrome of Democracy