Born September 1, 1909 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, Lay attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1931.

Upset by what he viewed as the injustice of the criticism, Lay began his writing career while still on active duty by submitting rebuttal articles and pieces on aviation in general, published in The Sportsman Pilot, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, Today, and Harper's.

Lay returned to active duty at his own request just after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, as a flying instructor in Chino, California.

Lay was made part of Eaker's staff cadre, as Eighth Air Force historian and film unit commander.

Gen. Curtis LeMay, and used much of the content in an article entitled "I Saw Regensburg Destroyed", which appeared in the November 6, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

His group encountered heavy flak near Châteaudun, the location of a Luftwaffe fighter airfield, and both Lay's B-24 and that of his deputy commander were shot down.

From this experience, he authored a second book, published by Harper Brothers in 1945, I've Had It: The Survival of a Bomb Group Commander, which was reissued in 1980 by Dodd, Mead and Company under a new title, Presumed Dead.

He was working there in 1946 when he was approached by Sy Bartlett, another Eighth Air Force veteran, to collaborate on the novel-screenplay project which became Twelve O'Clock High, published in 1948 and released in 1949, respectively.

Lay continued as a screenwriter for movies and television during the 1960s, while in the employ of Networks Electronics Corporation in Chatsworth, California as vice president.