Hay, Robert Claude “Bob”, born 04-11-1913, in Renmark, South Australia, 
the second of the six children of John and Margaret Hay. Robert attended Renmark High School and graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College 
in 1935, where he also excelled in sports. The college swimming pool is now named in his honour.
He joined the RAAF 
in the summer of 1940, trained in Australia and Canada and arrived in England a year later. His first posting was to 455 (Australia) Squadron, 
under command of Wing Commander G.M. Lindeman,
where his time coincided with future colleagues Harold Brownlow Morgan “Mick” Martin 
and his crew. Like them, in April 1942 he was posted to 50 Squadron to fly on heavy bombers when 455 Squadron moved to Coastal Command. Aged 30, with a wife and daughter back in Australia, Bob Hay was slightly older than the rest of Mick Martin’s crew. Harold Brownlow Morgan “Mick” Martin survived the war and died 03-11-1988 (age 70)
Robert served a full tour of operations, flying mainly as navigator with one of the squadron’s best known pilots, Squadron Leader Gordon Hugh Everitt,
in a crew which also contained fellow Aussie and future 617 Squadron 
colleague, Fred ‘Spam’ Stafford.
By the time 617 Squadron was formed, Hay had been commissioned and been awarded the DFC 
. As an Australian from 50 Squadron he slotted easily into the crack Martin crew, and his slight age advantage and extensive experience made him the obvious choice for the important role as the squadron’s Bombing Leader.
This new job meant that within days of his arrival, he flew to Manston with Guy Penrose Gibson 
to watch a test drop of the new Upkeep weapon at Reculver. The first, dropped by a Wellington, was successful, but the second, dropped by a Lancaster, broke up. Flying back in a small Magister, he and Gibson had a lucky escape when its single engine failed. Gibson managed to crashland in a field full of devices designed to stop enemy gliders landing.
Hay was one of the four who were told the target on the night before the raid, along with Henry Melvin “Dinghy” Young, 
Henry Eric Maudslay 
and John Vere Hopgood. 
Although the rest of the squadron didn’t know for certain when the operation would take place news that they had been summoned to a meeting in Charles Whitworth’s house led to fevered speculation on the base. Young age 27 on 17-05-1943, during the Dam Buster Raid, crashed in the Nordsea. Maudslay, age 21, also was killed in action while taking part in Operation Chastise, popularly known as the ‘Dam Busters’ raid, aswell John Vere Hopgood,.age 21.
Earlier that day, Hay and most of the rest of Martin’s crew had been on board AJ-P after it had been loaded with its mine. Intelligence officer Fay Gillon, here on her wdding 
was also inside the aircraft, being given a tour. Suddenly, with a crash, the mine dropped onto the ground and everyone on board and outside beat a hasty retreat in case it exploded. The weapon hadn’t been fused, so it did not explode but its delicate mechanism may have been damaged, as when it was finally dropped at the Möhne Dam, it veered to the left and exploded at the side.
Hay received a bar to his DFC for his role on the raid, and played his part in the celebrations that followed. He can be seen in the raucous photo taken at the Hungaria Restaurant, wedged between Tom Simpson and Toby Foxlee, with a glass in his hand.
After the raid, Martin’s crew eventually went back on operations, although Leggo and Chambers eventually left to train as pilots. A new CO, Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, 
arrived and Hay spent a lot of time working on training his bomb aimers to use a new device, the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight (SABS). 
Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire,survived the war and died 31-07-1992 (aged 74) in Cavendish, Suffolk, England.
Death and burial ground of Hay, Robert Claude “Bob”.
Left to right: Tom Simpson, Lance Howard, David Shannon, Bob Hay, Jack Leggo, Mick Martin, Fred Spafford.
Several months passed until February 1944 when, under Cheshire’s leadership, a detachment set off to bomb the Antheor Viaduct in southern France, an important rail link to Italy. Paul Brickhill devotes a whole chapter of The Dam Busters to what happened to Martin’s crew on this operation describing in vivid detail his bombing run and the way the aircraft rocked as it was hit by a cannon shell which exploded in the ammunition tray under the front turret.
Martin was calling the roll round his crew. The tough little Foxlee was all right. Bob Hay did not answer. Whittaker gave him a twisted grin, swearing and hunched, holding his legs. The rest were all right. He called Hay twice more but there was only silence, so he said ‘Toby, see if Bob’s all right. His intercom must be busted.’ Foxlee swung out of his turret and wormed towards the nose. He lifted his head towards Martin. ‘He’s lying on the floor. Not moving.’
Eventually Martin managed to land his battered Lancaster in Sardinia, on a small airfield run by the Americans. Hay’s body was removed from the aircraft and he was buried the next day in a cemetery in Cagliari. He was the only one of Martin’s Dams Raid crew who did not survive the war. Martin was himself quite shaken by the episode, and did not fly again on operations with 617 Squadron. A few months later, however, he had recovered his poise and was back in a Mosquito squadron.
After Hay’s death, the Principal of Roseworthy Agricultural College wrote:
We were shocked with the news of the loss of Flight Lieutenant Robert Claude Hay, DFC and Bar and African Star, a much respected and loved member of the College staff and the Gold Medalist in 1935. Before his enlistment in 1940 he was assistant horticulturist at the college. Both as a member of the staff and as a student Bob Hay, with his happy, carefree disposition, more nearly symbolised the life of an agricultural college student than anyone I’ve known.
Hay, Robert Claude “Bob” is buried at Cagliari (St. Michele) Communal Cemetery Cagliari Italy Cagliari (St Michele) Communal Cemetery, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy..
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