LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Adolf David Leon HOFFMAN
Service No: 426598
Born: Melbourne VIC, 24 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK542), Belgium, 25 April 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Solomon and Hinda Sadie Hoffman, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2205 hours on the night of 24 April, 1944 Lancaster HK542 took off from Witchford detailed to bomb Karlsruhe, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Wolfke and Paradijs (Limburg), two small communities some 9 kms north east of St-Truiden, Belgium. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HK452 were:
Sergeant Peter Anthony Bennett (1601570) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Norman Louis Forth (1510806) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Adolf David Leon Hoffman (426598) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alan Holt (2209128) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William McKelvie (1567626) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant John Frederick Plummer (1606785) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer James Eugene Zegarchuk (J/89947) (RCAF) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/18/341