LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ronald Victor HOMBSCH
Service No: 416338
Born: Renmark SA, 30 December 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 May 1941
Unit: No. 38 Squadron (RAF), Detachment Gambut, Libya
Died: Air Operations (No. 38 Squadron Wellington aircraft MP627), Eastern Mediterranean, 26 July 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Carl Bernhardt Hombsch, and of Helene Elizabeth Hombsch, of Cobdogla, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Cobdogla SA
Remembered: Column 278, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Wellington MP 627 of No. 38 Squadron took off from Gambut at 0020 hours on 26 July, 1943 on an operational shipping reconnaissance in the Aegean Sea. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to Berka 111. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of MP627 were:
Sergeant Arthur Carter (1212819) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Victor Hombsch (416338) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Mick Anthony Smith (1312603) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Edward Morgan Stanyon (129925) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Kenneth Frederick Woodhouse Stevens (1383083) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Harold Adam Taylor (J/12821) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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 A705, 166/18/134
Bibliography:
Winter, V.A. (Vincent Adams) (408547) Noble Six Hundred: the story of the Empire Air Training Scheme with special reference to Australians who trained in Southern Rhodesia, V.A. Winter Brighton VIC 3186, 1982