Gilbert Hayton

After a period of time at No. 12 Operational Training Unit familiarising himself with the Fairey Battle light bomber, Hayton was posted to No. 98 Squadron in mid-May 1940.^[1] By this time, he had been confirmed in his rank as pilot officer.^[5] He was only here for a couple of weeks before being sent to No. 12 Squadron, also operating Battles.^[1]

In August, Hayton was posted to No. 266 Squadron,^[1] which had been heavily engaged in the Battle of Britain and withdrawn to Wittering for a respite. Operating Supermarine Spitfire fighters, it was only occasionally involved in scrambles when called up to provide aerial cover for Duxford.^[6] After two months, Hayton was transferred to No. 66 Squadron, another fighter unit operating Spitfires, on 27 October. Flying from West Malling, on 14 November, he engaged two Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers, damaging both. However, his Spitfire was also damaged and he had to make a crash landing.^[1][3][7]

In December, Hayton was assigned to No. 255 Squadron.^[1] The squadron was newly reformed for night fighting duties with the Boulton Paul Defiant fighter and based at Kirton-in-Lindsey. It became operational in January 1941 and was soon flying extensively during the Blitz. In June, it began to upgrade to the Bristol Beaufighter and from August to late September it was non-operational. Aerial activity was limited once it returned to operations due to weather and teething issues with the Beaufighter.^[8] Hayton, who had been promoted to flying officer in March, was briefly attached to the Blind Approach Calibration Flight at Oxford during his time with the squadron.^[1][9]

In February 1942, Hayton was posted to the Middle East, joining No. 89 Squadron at Abu Sueir.^[1][10] Promoted to flight lieutenant on 9 March,^[11] he led one of the squadron's flights to the Mediterranean island of Malta to join No. 1435 Flight, the local night fighter unit.^[1][10] Paired with Pilot Officer H. Josling as his radar operator, Hayton made his first claim with his new unit on the night of 12 March, when he engaged and damaged an unidentified bomber. Subsequent research by military aviation historians Christopher Shores and Clive Williams suggests that this may have been a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber, which was recorded as having been lost in the night in question.^[3]

On the night of 19 March, Hayton engaged and destroyed a Fiat BR.20 Cicogna. He shot down a Ju 88 on 8 April over Safi. He destroyed another BR.20 on 17 May and then a second on 22 May, this time near Gela. Another BR.20 was claimed by Hayton as probably destroyed in the same sortie, although Shores and Williams note that it actually returned home, with wounded crew. A Ju 87 of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) was damaged by Hayton on the night of 29 May, and he engaged and destroyed Ju 88s on 14 June and 17 June respectively.^[3]

Towards the end of June, Hayton returned to Egypt and service with No. 89 Squadron.^[1] He and Josling was posted back to the United Kingdom later in the year. Departing Cape Town, in South Africa, in early September aboard the RMS Laconia, the ship was torpedoed by the U-Boat U-156 on 12 September to the northeast of Ascension Island. Although Hayton survived, taking to a lifeboat with 50 other survivors, he subsequently died of thirst and exposure. His date of death was deemed to be 20 October, the date on which his lifeboat was found by searchers; there were only four survivors from Hayton's lifeboat. Josling, in another lifeboat, survived as he was picked up after six days.^[1][3]

Hayton's award of the Distinguished Flying Cross had been published in The London Gazette in the week following the sinking of the Laconia.^[12] His total number of aerial victories is uncertain, due to variance between official records and research conducted in the postwar period. Shores and Williams credit him with destroying five, possibly six, aircraft, and also probably destroying one or two more.^[3] He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Alamein Memorial in Egypt.^[13]

• Martyn, Errol (2008). For Your Tomorrow - A Record of New Zealanders Who Have Died While Serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services Since 1915 - Volume Three: Biographies & Appendices. Christchurch: Volplane Press. ISBN 978-0-473-12829-6.
• Rawlings, John (1976). Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: MacDonald & James. ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
• Shores, Christopher; Williams, Clive (1994). Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-898697-00-0.