Pilot Officer, RAF
Born: August 7th 1923
Died: December 16th 1943
Age at Death: 20
Killed in action, December 16th 1943
Tennis 6 1939-1940
Father: Captain R.C. Bayldon
Address: 3 Cissbury Road, Hove
Born on 7 August 1923 to Captain Richard Bayldon and his wife Claudine (née Dampney) of Barnstaple, Devon, Richard junior was in the Tennis VI at school.
During the war he flew bombers for 9 Squadron, which was stationed at RAF Bardney in Lincolnshire. In December 1943 he was flying his Avro Lancaster bomber on a mission over Berlin. After the bombing, Bayldon’s bomber was heading away from Berlin when it was involved in a mid-air collision with Lancaster JA867 from 619 Squadron. The collision downed both aircraft, killing all crew members.
Sadly, this was a very common occurrence, as the crews were flying at night, in and out of bad weather, were being shot at by German flak batteries and fighters, and the RAF crews were tired and frightened. Only the most skilled and, most importantly, luckiest flight crews survived.
Bayldon is buried in the Berlin 1939–45 War Cemetery in Charlottenburg, the site of Frederick the Great’s Palace.