The pilot of this aircraft was part of the "B" Flight of 403 Squadron and around the 11th July 1942 "B" Flight were stationed at the forward operating airfield of West Hartlepool (Greatham), this gave the aircraft a head start in intercepting incoming Luftwaffe aircraft over the North Sea with the squadron technically based inland at Catterick; further from the North East coast. Little in the way of airfield infrastructure was present at West Hartlepool and units based there often made short flights back to their parent airfield (usually Catterick). Around lunch time on 11th July 1942 the pilot of this Spitfire took off from West Hartlepool to fly back to Catterick to obtain some new recoil springs for the aircraft's machine guns. The landing was made succesfully at Catterick and the new springs obtained. Later in the day the pilot then received authority to return to West Hartlepool and took off. The aircraft was later seen flying at very high speed and at a low height towards Topcliffe airfield, over the airfield it then climbed to around 1000 feet, turned on its back and dived into the ground at high speed near Milburn Farm, between the airfield and Thirsk at 15.43hrs. Sadly the pilot was killed in the accident and the aircraft was destroyed. One of the witnesses to the crash interviewed stated that he had heard a loud crack in the aircraft before it had entered the dive. Although no-one else heard this crack from their positions on the airfield others saw what they believed the pilot begin to make an aerobatic manoeuvre called a roll but believed that he only managed a half-roll before the aircraft went into the steep dive and crashed. The investigation could not rule out that a technical failure had occurred causing the aircraft to roll over just before the crash or whether it was simply that the pilot's flying ability was not good enough to carry out a full aerobatic roll and he lost control.
Pilot - P/O Gordon Francis Joseph Hoben RCAF (J/15077), aged 29, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Buried Catterick Cemetery, North Yorkshire.
Gordon Hoben's wartime story is a unique one. Gordon Hoben was born on 8th March 1913 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the only child of Elmo Murray and Lucie Isabel (nee Street) Hoben. The family had moved to New York, USA when he was young and he attended the Pearl River schools from 1923 until 1932. His father was an accountant and he possible moved his family because of his job. After leaving school he began working in Hamilton, Ontario in 1933 (so I assume his family had returned to Canada in 1933). He had then served as a Constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman in Ottawa from 1935 for five years when he enlisted into the RCAF on 20th July 1940 in Windsor, Ontario. He trained as a pilot in Canada and was awarded his pilot wings on 21st February 1941. Undoubtably he must have known he was to be posted overseas as he married Hilda Marie Duffy on 8th March 1941 in Toronto and was posted to the UK only a matter of days later. On arrival in the UK he trained at 20 OTU beginning 22nd April 1941 and was posted to 102 Squadron on 12th August 1941. On 15th August 1941 Sgt Hoben, as he was then, was the second pilot flying Whitley Z6746 on an operational flight to bomb Hannover, on their return to Topcliffe the aircraft was landing in poor visibility and overshot the runway. The undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft was badly damaged though he and the rest of the crew escaped injury. This incident is detailed on my website here. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on 25th November 1941. On 21st December 1941 he was posted on attachment to 1652 HCU to convert to fly the Halifax type returning to 102 Squadron when this was complete. 102 Squadron were taking on charge Halifaxes to replace their out-dated Whitleys at this time and all their aircrew received conversion training.
What happened then in his service was rare. Normally Bomber Command pilots would complete a Tour of operations with that command but this was not the case with him. The Police Association of Ontario, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada had raised money through donations in Canada and the USA to buy a Spitfire and this was donated to the War-effort but with the instruction that a former Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman should fly it. "The Canadian Policeman" presentation aircraft was Spitfire BL900. Gordon Hoben was the only former RCMP member in the UK serving as a pilot at the time but was an operational member of Bomber Command and not Fighter Command, he was asked if he would transfer commands to fly the aircraft and he accepted. He was posted to 58 OTU at Grangemouth in mid-February 1942 and two months later was posted to 403 Squadron specifically to fly Spitfire BL900 which was dedicated at North Weald in April 1942. Spitfire BL900 crashed on 4th or 5th May 1942 at Southend and was written off. Gordon Hoben was admitted to Southend Hospital on 5th May 1942 and I strongly suspect that he was the pilot of BL900 when it crashed and sustained injuries. He was then admitted to Torquay Hospital to recover from 22nd May to 21st June 1942 and when recovered he was posted back to 403 Squadron who by now were based at Catterick, Yorkshire. The artwork on BL900's cowling and the presentation plate were removed from the crashed BL900 (presumably the dents knocked out) and they were put onto Spitfire AR345. When Gordon Hoben returned to 403 Squadron in June 1942 he used Spitfire AR345. The photograph above is Spitfire BL900 with Gordon Hoben in the cockpit talking to two higher ranking officers.
At the time of his death at Topcliffe Gordon Hoben had almost certainly taken the opportunity of being in the air on his own, and with this, to have flown over Topcliffe airfield to over fly his former squadron aircrew. The crash investigating officer made the comments "I think it is a great pity that a promising Bomber pilot, and an excellent officer, should have been taken away from the job on which he was trained, very keen, and efficient, and put into a job which he was not so suited for, in order to satisfy the donors of the Spitfire, since the donors would not have have known if the aircraft had been flown by a Canadian Policeman or not, and it is not possible to reserve any aircraft for any pilot in a Fighter Squadron." I have yet to learn of this ever happening again during the Second World War.
A group of local historians undertook a licenced dig at the crash site of Spitfire AR345 in January 1998 and a number of small items, albeit in poor condition, was found.
Spitfire AR345 was built to contract B.124305/40 by the Westland Aircraft Co. Ltd., at Yeovil and was delivered to 33 MU at Lyneham on 27th February 1942. On 5th May 1942 it was taken on charge by 403 Squadron at Southend, they then moved to Martlesham Heath on 3rd June 1943 and to Catterick on 19th June 1942 and the aircraft followed. As a result of the accident near Topcliffe airfield on 11th July 1942 Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was recorded. It was struck off charge on 16th July 1942 when the paperwork caught up having spent just 78 hours in the air from new.