Raymond Willard Hayes Collection

Raymond Willard Hayes was born May 18, 1916 in Bonham, Texas. As a young boy, his family moved to Denison, Texas. It was there in 1934 during his senior year of high school at Denison High, that Hayes began to take flying lessons. After five years of training at Gray Field in Denison, Hayes went on to earn both his pilot certification and his commercial pilot’s license. After a very brief stint hauling passengers, Hayes became an instructor with Southeastern Oklahoma College’s Civilian Pilot Training Program.

In May of 1941, Hayes journeyed to Dallas and joined Braniff Airways as a co-pilot. He was advanced to pilot status a year later and was assigned as an instructor to the military aviation school Braniff Airways ran in Brownsville, Texas. Hayes alternated this duty with serving as a pilot for Braniff and the Air Transport Command (ATC) ferrying cargo between San Antonio, Texas and The Panama Canal Zone. At the end of World War II, Hayes returned to line flying with Braniff. In 1967, Hayes became Assistant Manager of Operations at Braniff’s headquarters in Dallas. In 1969, Hayes became a flight instructor for jet aircraft and check pilot. In 1974, he returned to regular line flying, and in 1976, he retired from Braniff International after thirty-five years of service. While serving with Braniff, Hayes qualified to fly the DC-2, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, Lockheed 12, Lockheed L-188, Convair 340-440, Boeing 707-227-720, and the Boeing 727. He logged 27,000 hours of flight time and racked up an estimated 7,100,000 miles of travel.

Hayes was also active in the aviation industry in other ways. He was a longstanding member of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), and active in Council #42, the local Braniff-Dallas Chapter. In 1969, Hayes was one of the men responsible for the creation of a Braniff Retiree Club, which in 1970 would become the Braniff International Silver Eagles.

Hayes married Ms. Lois Fher on June 16, 1940. They had been childhood friends and graduated Denison High School together. They had three children, John and Jim, who worked for Braniff and flew with their father on his last trip, as well as a daughter, Alice. Raymond Willard and Lois Hayes had their 50th wedding Anniversary in 1990.

After retirement, Hayes remained active in flying, purchasing a Cessna 183 Skylane and keeping it in flying condition. He was active in the Masons, as well as serving as a head usher at Preston Hollow Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Hayes also volunteered at The History of Aviation Archives at The University of Texas at Dallas. Raymond Willard Hayes passed away on March 13, 1999.

Source

"Raymond Willard Hayes," Biography, Folder 1, Box 5, Series I, History of Aviation Archives, Special Collections and Archives Division, Eugene McDermott Library, The University of Texas at Dallas.