LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas Cunnah HOBGEN
Service No: 404313
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 29 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1940
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Station Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1422), off the French Coast, 4 August 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Quiberon Communal Cemetery, Morbihan, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Daisy Adelaide Hobgen, of Toowong, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toowoomba QLD
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Sergeant John Edward Hobgen (404621)
Date: 4-5 August 1942
Target: Mine Laying
Total Force: Dispatched – 45, Attacking – 35
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 10, Attacking – 9
Mines Laid: 77
Total Aircraft Lost: 2
RAAF Aircraft Lost: 1
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Page 308
Wellington Z1422 of No. 460 Squadron RAF took off from RAF Breighton at 2214 hours on 4 August 1942 to carry out a gardening (mine laying) operation. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Z1422 was one of ten aircraft from the Squadron that took part in the mission. It was later established that Sergeant Hogben’s body had been washed up near Port Ivy.
The crew members of Z1422 were:
Pilot Officer Albert George Grand (402948) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Cunnah Hobgen (404313) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Albert William Howard (405273) (Navigator)
Sergeant Colin Roderick Donald Lowis (405277) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Athole Douglas MacLeod (405274) (Air Bomber)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 404313
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985