LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Gordon Bruce HODDLE
Service No: 413156
Born: Lindfield NSW, 23 August 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 550 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station North Killingholme
Died: Air Operations: (No. 550 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HD942), Germany, 25 February 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Durnbach War Cemetery, Bad Tolz, Bayern, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George James Hoddle and Eva Gertrude Hoddle, of Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St. Alban’s Anglican Church Roll of Honour, Lindfield NSW
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War 2 Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
At 1816 hours on the night of 25 February 1944, Lancaster HD942 took off from North Killingholme, detailed to bomb Augsburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off, and it failed to return base. The aircraft crashed near Turkheim with six crew members killed and one taken prisoner.
The crew members of HD942 were:
Flight Sergeant James Kenneth Boothroyd (1359010) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer John William Bryan (143853) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant D P Dingle (1604425) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Kenneth McLean Fairbairn (1393603) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Gordon Bruce Hoddle (413156) (Pilot)
Sergeant Stanley George Hubbard (133708) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Thomas Frederick Quine (1524562) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/18/298
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line