Adolf David Leon Hoffman was born in Melbourne on 24 November 1922, second son to Hinda Sadie (née Levin) and Charles Solomon Hoffman. In the late 1920s the family moved to Queensland and Adolf was bar mitzvah at the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation in 1935. ‘Dolf’ attended Brisbane Grammar School, where he was an accomplished scholar and writer, rose to lieutenant in the Cadet Corps, and was also a champion cricketer, gymnast and athlete.

Adolf started an economics degree at the University of Queensland in 1941, but, with the war in its second year, the 19-year-old was true to his words: “Where Duty calls, the boys past and present will answer ‘Here!’ and step forward with unflinching hearts.” He enlisted in the RAAF and, in July 1942, No. 426598 Aircraftman Adolf David Leon Hoffman commenced at No. 3 I.T.S. Sandgate. Known as David, he undertook basic navigation training at Cootamundra and Evans Head in Avro Ansons, graduating as a Pilot Officer from Air Navigation School, Parkes NSW, in April 1943. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he then sailed via the USA to England, where he took several courses that prepared night-bomber crews for RAF Bomber Command. Commissioned as Flying Officer in October, David wrote that his war-time experiences: "cut mother’s apron strings" and "Home restraints are removed, I'm in service, I've plenty of money - it's an old story of wine women and song (if I could sing)."

His seven-man crew was posted to RAF 115 Squadron on 14 March 1944 at RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire, and flew some dozen operational missions before taking the regulation six-day leave from 18 to 23 April. The following night, FO Hoffman was navigator of Lancaster HK542, one of 637 bombers in a raid on Karlsruhe some 800km away in Germany. On the return flight, they flew well north of the planned route due to cloud and winds. Over Belgium at 0200 hrs, the Messerschmitt of Luftwaffe ace, Oberleutnant Schnaufer, fired on HK542. As the shattered Lancaster plummeted, its pilot Flt Sgt Peter Bennett managed to avoid a catastrophic hit on the town of Alken, saving many locals’ lives. The rest of the crew tried in vain to bail out safely, the Lancaster crashed into a nearby field and burned out. A witness recalled that: “The pilot was still sitting behind the controls in his seat. The others … were lying in the meadow … or … hanging in the trees.” HK542 was one of 19 aircraft lost that night, 25 April 1944.

Over the ensuing months, the RAAF advised that David was “missing”, then “missing believed killed”. On 31 July, Charles Hoffman received a telegram from the Red Cross confirming the death of all seven crew and their burial at Brusthem, Sint Truiden. Meanwhile, the families of the crew exchanged correspondence, still hoping for their survival. But David’s personal effects, including “3 Religious Books,” were returned in 1945, and the bodies of the crew were reinterred in 1947 in Heverlee War Cemetery, Belgium.

Aged 21 and killed in action on Anzac Day, 25 April 1944, Flying Officer Adolf David Leon Hoffman’s headstone is inscribed with an epitaph taken from a poem he wrote in 1940, his last year at Brisbane Grammar School:
WITH COURAGE, TRUTH AND LABOUR HE SERVED HIS GOD AND KING

Adolf’s older brother, Earle Hoffman, became one of the ACT Jewish Community’s founders and his daughter, Adele, married Dr David Rosalky (see separate entry for his uncle, Marcus Rosalky, 25 April 1909 to 23 February 1945) – who also became stalwarts of the community. Earle died in 2013 but his vision of commemorating fallen Jewish Australian service personnel was finally realised with the dedication of the Australian Jewish War Memorial at the National Jewish Memorial Centre in Canberra by the Governor-General of Australia, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, on the centenary of the knighting of General Sir John Monash, 12 August 2018 – the culmination of the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program.

Adolf David Leon Hoffman was born in Melbourne on 24 November 1922, second son after Earle, to Hinda Sadie (née Levin) and Charles Solomon Hoffman of Kew, a commercial traveller. Charles developed food agencies covering the whole of Queensland, so in the late 1920’s the family moved to Gregory Terrace, Brisbane, where another son, Julius, and daughter, Guilda, were born. They became members of the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation and Adolf was bar mitzvah in 1935, while Rev. Nathan Levine was minister of its synagogue in Margaret Street (1926 to 1936). Adolf - known as ‘Dolf’ or ‘Dolfie’ by the family - attended the Central Practising School, then from 1936 Brisbane Grammar School, where he was an accomplished scholar, writer, student representative and rose to lieutenant in the Cadet Corps. He was also a champion cricketer, gymnast and athlete, including winning every Under-15 sprint event at the Queensland Junior Athletics Championship and shattering the State Resident Record for the half-mile. In his last year at the school, 1940, Dolf won numerous prizes, and with the shadow of war cast, he wrote a reflective poem, which became his own epitaph (refer Postscript). After matriculation, he began a degree in economics at the University of Queensland in 1941 and worked in the family business.

On 7 December 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, bringing the USA into the war, and on 19 January 1942 - exactly one month before the Japanese bombed Darwin - Dolf stood true to the words he had written as Editor of the school magazine: “Where Duty calls, the boys past and present will answer ‘Here!’ and step forward with unflinching hearts.” He officially enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force at the Brisbane Recruiting Centre, but his actual start was delayed due to a bout of pharyngitis.

On 18 July 1942, 19-year-old No. 426598 Aircraftman Adolf David Leon Hoffman commenced at No. 3 I.T.S. (Initial Training School) Sandgate and became known simply as David Hoffman. From 15 October, as a Leading Aircraftman, he undertook basic navigation training at No.1 A.O.S. (Air Observers School) Cootamundra NSW, in Avro Ansons and then, from 11 January 1943, at No.1 B.A.G.S. (Bombing and Gunnery School), Evans Head. It was reportedly the largest RAAF training facility in the Southern Hemisphere during WWII under the E.A.T.S. (Empire Air Training Scheme), including Air Observers/Bomb Aimers, Wireless Operators/Air Gunners and Navigators. By the war’s end, more than five thousand RAAF personnel passed through its training programs and of those, more than one thousand were killed. As well as Ansons, at its height No.1 B.A.G.S. had some 70 Fairey Battle aircraft operating from one grass and three asphalt runways, with extensive bombing and gunnery ranges in daily active use to the north and south of the small village on the NSW North Coast. On 8 March, David commenced at No.1 A.N.S. (Air Navigation School), Parkes NSW - the first of its kind, that included the latest advances in astronomical navigation in the syllabus - again flying Ansons. He graduated as a Pilot Officer on 1 April, ready to complete his operational training.

On 6 May 1943, attached to the Royal Air Force, David embarked on the USAT William A. Holbrook from Brisbane for the USA, in his next phase of the E.A.T.S. During the troopship’s first afternoon at sea, those on board saw the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur heading south. About a week later, the news was received that, on her return trip to New Guinea to repatriate more wounded soldiers, Centaur had been cold-bloodedly torpedoed by a Japanese submarine just off Queensland’s Cape Moreton, with considerable loss of life, including two Jewish servicemen: Major Isadore Sender (a doctor) and WOII Norman Lesnie – see their separate entries. After a 17-day journey, the Holbrook arrived at San Francisco, to complete the second of her three, unescorted return trips over the Pacific Ocean that year. David travelled by train across the USA to the east coast, reaching the large staging-post of Camp Myles Standish, near Taunton Massachusetts, on 28 May. Along with thousands of airmen from other British dominions, a few weeks later he then joined a troopship - either in one of the numerous convoys or on the likes of the fast, converted passenger liner, Queen Elizabeth - that negotiated the U-boat-infested North Atlantic Ocean, to arrive in the United Kingdom on 7 July 1943.

After enjoying three weeks at the Grand or Metropole Hotel in Brighton - the Australian aircrew Despatch Centre - David progressed through a series of training placements for the next eight months, commencing with:
- 1 (O) AFU (Observers Advanced Flying Unit) - from 2 August, at RAF Wigtown, within the Dumfries and Galloway region of southwest Scotland.
- 26 OTU (Operational Training Unit) - from 7 September, at RAF Wing in Buckinghamshire, 70km NW of London. As part of No.7 Group RAF Bomber Command, the unit prepared night-bomber crews on the two-engined Vickers Wellington.

He was commissioned Flying Officer A.D.L. Hoffman on 1 October 1943 (gazetted 19 September). During this time, it is clear from his letters home that David advanced from a "gauche and young man” (his words) to someone far more confident, with his war-time experiences in the USA and England leading him to "cut mother’s apron strings". He described how: "Home restraints are removed, I'm in service, I've plenty of money - well it's an old story of wine women and song (if I could sing)." Indeed, as well as a bicycle, David had purchased a motor car whilst in England.

Aircraft crews were generally chosen by the pilot and airmen themselves. They then proceeded through a number of Heavy Conversion Units, which also upgraded crews of five that had been trained on medium bombers to operate heavy bombers with an additional gunner and a flight engineer. Thus, a very close bond developed between crew members before their final posting to an operational squadron. With RAAF FO David Hoffman as Navigator and the only Australian, the rest of his seven-man crew comprised: RAF Flt Sgt Peter A. Bennett - Captain and Pilot; RAF Sgt John F. Plummer - Flight Engineer; RCAF PO James E. Zegarchuk - Air Bomber; RAF Sgt Norman L. Forth - Wireless Air Gunner; RAF Sgt William McKelvie - Mid-upper Gunner; and RAF Sgt Alan Holt - Rear Gunner. As part of 31 Base, they then attended:
- 1678 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) - at RAF Foulsham in Norfolk - from 10 December, flying four-engined Avro Lancaster IIs, taking nine days leave from 22 to 30 December (which in 1943 happened to coincide with the Jewish festival of Hannukah);
- 1651 CU - at RAF Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire - from 21 January 1944, flying Short Stirlings, the first RAF four-engined bomber but now a trainer;
- 1658 and 1678 HCU - likely also at RAF Foulsham, or at RAF Waterbeach - from 28 February, flying Lancasters again.

A long, unobstructed bomb-bay allowed the Lancaster to take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the 4,000 lb (1,800 kg), 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) and 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) blockbusters, with loads often supplemented by smaller bombs or incendiaries. The "Lanc", as it was known colloquially, became Britain’s principal heavy bomber of the Second World War. The navigator worked at his desk behind a curtain and instructed the pilot on the route and airspeed required throughout the operation, to arrive on target within the expected time period and in company with the other assigned aircraft. As the navigator also operated radar aids, he needed steadfast concentration during his flight navigation - an inexact science - and any lapse could prove fatal.

Following six days leave, on 14 March 1944, the crew was posted to 115 Squadron of Group 3 RAF Bomber Command, that was assigned to attack strategic targets, mainly in Germany. Around this time, the squadron relocated from RAF Little Snoring, Norfolk, to RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire, and its Hercules-engined Avro Lancaster IIs were replaced by Merlin-engined Lancaster Is and IIIs.

Typically, in preparation for a mission at an afternoon briefing meeting attended with the pilots, their navigators would take many notes on meteorological conditions, flight times and positions for course changes. Then together with their bomb aimers, they would mark up their charts and maps, adding notations for wind speeds and directions, the time the attack was expected to commence and locations of known heavy anti-aircraft batteries, plus other pertinent information. Cross-hatched areas of red celluloid-covered sections of the map indicated known flak positions and green celluloid indicated searchlight batteries. The introduction of the GEE navigation system allowed the RAF bombers to fly a long, tight, formation in the dark - a 'stream of bombers' - flying a common route at the same speed to and from the target, each aircraft being allotted a height band and a time slot in the bomber stream to minimize the risk of formation collision. A typical bomber stream of 600 to 700 aircraft was on average 8 or 10 miles broad, and 4,000 to 6,000 feet deep. Rather than small groups of aircraft essentially flying independently to a target, the tactic had been adopted since mid-1942 and successfully reduced the loss rate caused by Germany’s Kammhuber Line: a closely integrated network of ground-controlled interception boxes along the Channel coast, that directed Luftwaffe fighters onto a bomber as soon as it entered the area.

After approximately a dozen operational missions over six weeks, as per regulations the crew took another six days leave from 18 to 23 April. The following day, 21 aircraft of 115 Sqn - nine Halifaxes and twelve Lancasters - were briefed to bomb Karlsruhe, a port on the Rhine River in south-west Germany, some 800km away. FO Hoffman was navigator of Lancaster HK542 that took off from RAF Witchford at 2205 hours on that Saturday evening, 24 April 1944. A total of 637 aircraft took part in the raid, made up of 369 Lancasters, 259 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. Nothing more was heard from Lancasters HK542 or DS734, and they failed to return to the 115 Sqn base at Witchford. A total of 19 aircraft were lost that night, 3 percent of the force. Details of that sortie - subsequently collated from various reports, witnesses and later research - reveal their fate, described in the following paragraphs.

Thick cloud over the target and a strong wind pushed the leading aircraft from Pathfinders Force (RAF No. 8 Group) too far north, spoiling the attack: their target markers appeared to be very scattered, consequently the ensuing bombing was not concentrated. Nevertheless, many large fires were seen reflected through the cloud and several explosions were also observed. Also, enemy fighter activity was handicapped owing to the “10/10” (i.e. fully overcast) cloud cover, and the ground defences were ineffective. Most of the bombs fell outside the city and only the northern part of Karlsruhe was seriously damaged. With 900 houses destroyed or seriously damaged and casualties on the ground reported “light” at 118 killed and 133 injured, the mission to Karlsruhe was classed “a failure.”

On the return flight, with continuing cloud and strong winds, the bombers flew well north of the planned escape route, close to the German defences. Nicknamed “fourmots” (i.e. four motors) by the Germans, this made them vulnerable to attack from Luftwaffe night-fighters, such as twin-engined Messerschmitts. These were armed with two 20 mm cannon, four 7.92 mm machine guns, and the rear gunner’s 7.92 mm machine gun for defence (later variants had a twin-barrelled MG 81Z). One of those fighters was Messerschmitt Bf-IIO G-4. It took off at midnight from Sint Truiden in occupied Belgium, piloted by German air-ace Oberleutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer - nicknamed by bomber crews: “The Spook of St. Trond” (i.e. The Night Ghost Sint Truiden). His two crew members were wireless operator, Leutnant Friedrich "Fritz" Rumpelhardt and rear gunner, Oberfeldwebel (Master Sergeant) Willem Gänsler. Initially their hopes of adding to Schnaufer’s 53 successful night ‘kills’ were low, as rainwater seeped into the cockpit and there was heavy cloud. Also Rumpelhardt’s SN-2 radar wasn’t working, so they were electronically blind. But about two hours later Bf-IIO G-4 was back on course and, because Willi Gänsler “could see targets with his cat’s eyes’ night-vision,” found the swarm of British bombers that were streaming home.

Above Belgium, Schnaufer targeted and hit HK542 with a single burst from the Messerschmitt’s cannons. As the shattered Lancaster plummeted towards the village of Alken, breaking up and leaving a trail of debris and ammunition more than a kilometre long, her pilot Peter Bennett struggled to manoeuvre the now-blazing aircraft low over the houses so as to avoid a catastrophic hit on the town, saving many lives, while the rest of the crew attempted to bail out. At 0203 hrs, HK542 ploughed onto a field on the outskirts of Alken, tearing off the tail section, bounced and broke apart. The remainder of the fuselage then crashed into a ditch about 100 metres further on, where it burned out completely. Shortly afterwards, six-year-old René Duchamps was an eye-witness of the crash site, which he vividly described some seventy-five years later: “What I remember most, was that there were a lot of ashes and debris, and the stark image of the pilot: clearly a human figure, still sitting behind the controls in his seat. The others had tried to save themselves with their parachutes, but all six died. They were lying in the meadow … or … hanging in the trees.”

All seven crew, including Flying Officer Adolf David Leon Hoffman, were Killed in Action on 25 April - Anzac Day – 1944, in the vicinity of Wolfe and Paradijs (Limburg), some 9km north-east of Sint Truiden, Belgium.

It was Schnaufer’s 54th claim and, 25 minutes later, his air gunner, Willi Gänsler, guided the air-ace to Lancaster DS734, which he also shot down. They eventually claimed four bombers during Bf-IIO G-4’s operation that evening alone. Schnaufer, Gruppenkommandeur of Stab IV./NJG 1, went on to amass 121 kills, the highest-scoring night-fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare.

On 28 April, Wing Commander Robert Annan, CO of 115 Sqn, wrote to Charles Hoffman to express sympathy for his son, reported missing, and noted that: “[David] at all times maintained the highest standards of the Royal Australian Air Force.” Annan also enclosed names and addresses of the other six crew members’ next-of-kin, should they wish to correspond.

Charles wrote from Ardmona House, Little Roma St, Brisbane, on 2 May seeking further advice as to: “what chances there are that our Son is yet alive?” RAAF HQ Casualty Section responded that: “Your anxiety is deeply understood by this Department, but it would not be wise to hazard an opinion as to your son’s chances of survival. A small proportion of Air Force members do eventually become prisoners of war and likewise some have the good fortune to escape to neutral countries, but there is no indication as to whether your son will be amongst the more fortunate ones or not at the present time, and all that can be done is to wait until some news of him is received from the International Red Cross Committee, who make searching enquiries on behalf of all members of the services who are reported missing.”

The RAAF advised on 6 July that David was “missing believed killed” and on 31 July, Charles received a telegram stating that the International Red Cross Committee advised that all seven of the crew were killed and the Germans had buried them on 27 April at Brusthem, the airfield of Sint Truiden. It was near Schnaufer’s Luftwaffe base in occupied Belgium.

In response to a request from the Department of Air, on 14 August 1944, Adolf’s elder brother Earle Hoffman wrote that: “his mother, father and himself wish to nominate Rev. Nathan Levine of London to receive the Motor Car and bicycle owned by Adolf … intended for his daughter, Honour Levine, and his son, Basil Levine RAF.” The following day - on behalf of Charles, still clinging to hope and wanting clarification – one of Adolf’s twin cousins, Jacob or Joshua Fradkin, made an enquiry by telephone with RAAF HQ, who: “explained fully … how advice [was] received from [the] Germans and that there is little hope of it being a case of wrong identification."

Meanwhile, the HK542 crew-members’ families exchanged correspondence, helping to maintain a glimmer of hope for their loved ones. On 6 September, Peter Bennett’s parents wrote from Berkshire, England, to Hinda and Charles Hoffman: “It is a comfort that you remember Peter with David … even though it is a sorrow that we shall always have with us.” Mr and Mrs Plummer of Bristol, who as well as their 19-year-old son, John, of 115 Squadron, had another young son, Kenneth, missing in action with 434 Squadron since the previous November. Mrs Plummer wrote that they “still refuse to give up hope ….” and confided that: “Ken has been presumed killed now, but I don’t care if I have to wait 2 years, I shall still keep smiling and looking forward to the day when our hearts will be made lighter with the presence of John and Ken in our midst. … They [all] were brave and went over with much courage, so we must be just as brave, hard as it is in the meantime.”

Later in September, the Red Cross advised burial details of HK542’s crew and David’s presumed death was officially confirmed the following November of 1944. David’s personal effects, including “3 Religious Books,” were delivered to his family in May and June 1945, just as the war in Europe finished. The bodies of the seven crew were reinterred on 26 March 1947 in adjoining graves of the Heverlee War Cemetery, Locality Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium - 30km east of Brussels. Sadly, the family’s heartache grew when Charles received a photograph of his son’s grave in September 1948, showing a temporary cross, also with incorrect initials. The RAAF assured him that the permanent “headstone shall be correct in every respect.” In fact, for the interim seven years a grave-marker was erected that was in the form of a Star of David – quite uncommon (pictured).

Aged 21 and killed in action on Anzac Day, 25 April 1944, Flying Officer Adolf David Leon Hoffman’s permanent headstone was inscribed c. 1955 with an epitaph taken from a poem that he wrote while at Brisbane Grammar School, titled ‘Nil Sine Labore’ (the school motto: ‘Nothing Without Effort’):
WITH COURAGE, TRUTH AND LABOUR HE SERVED HIS GOD AND KING

In June 1945, the family granted a bursary in Adolf Hoffman’s memory to Brisbane Grammar School, and his name is on the Roll of Honour at the University of Queensland.

POSTSCRIPT

115 Sqn had one of the finest records of operational service in Bomber Command, with the grim price of 208 aircraft lost from 7,753 sorties, an average loss of 2.7 percent. The International Bomber Command Centre Memorial in Lincoln, England, opened in January 2018, commemorates 55,600 Bomber Command crew who lost their lives in the Second World War.

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, who received Nazi Germany’s highest award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, rose to the rank of Geschwaderkommodore (Wing Commander) on 20 November 1944 at the age of 22 - the youngest in the Luftwaffe. He was taken Prisoner of War by British forces in May 1945. After his release one year later, he returned to his home town of Calw, near Stuttgart in Württemberg, Southern Germany, and took over the family wine business. On 13 July 1950, during a wine-purchasing visit to France, Schnaufer sustained injuries in a road accident and died in a Bordeaux hospital two days later, aged 28. Both Willem Gänsler and Fritz Rumpelhardt participated in about 100 of Schnaufer’s victories, were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and also survived the war. They died in 1985 aged 66, and in 2011 aged 90, respectively.

Adolf’s older brother, Earle Samuel Hoffman was born in 1921. Youngest brother Julius Norman was born in 1930 and sister Guilda Rebecca in 1932. Earle, who with a degree in Agricultural Science was in a protected industry during WWII, settled in Canberra and became one of the founders of the ACT Jewish Community in the 1950’s. Since the opening of the National Jewish Memorial Centre, Forrest, in 1971, it was his vision and intention to honour fallen Jewish Australian service personnel with a national war memorial, worthy of their sacrifice. Earle’s daughter, Adele, married Dr David Marcus Rosalky (see separate entry for his uncle, Marcus Rosalky, 25 April 1909 to 23 February 1945) – and they also became stalwarts of the community. Earle died in 2013, but their dream was finally realised when the Australian Jewish War Memorial was dedicated in the grounds of the Centre by the Governor-General of Australia, General Sir Peter Cosgrove on the centenary of the knighting of General Sir John Monash by King George V - 12 August 2018 - the culmination of the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program.

Coincidentally, the previous May of 2018, Adele Rosalky was contacted by Filip Doms of Belgium’s ‘Friends of 115 Squadron’, who had been researching the fate of HK542 and its crew. The outcome of that contact was that on 4 May 2019, Adele and her two cousins - Adolf's three nieces - and partners attended a memorial service at the grave of FO Adolf Hoffman in Leuven, Belgium, followed by the dedication of a commemorative plaque to the seven crew members at the exact site of the Lancaster’s crash, on the outskirts of Alken. Subsequently, as well as arranging metal detection to trace remaining debris, the ‘Friends of 115 Squadron’ interviewed an elderly villager, M. René Duchamps, who had visited the crash site as a six-year-old with his father later on the day of HK542’s demise. As well as much of Filip Doms’s research, M. Duchamps’s testimony is included in the detail narrative above, transcribed from the original Flemish, which can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zMvwEREVY

Approximately half of all RAAF aircrew in WWII flew with RAF Squadrons in Europe - many in Bomber Command - essentially reflected on the Australian Jewish War Memorial: 27 of some 54 inscribed thereon.

As referred in the narrative, in 1940 - his last year at Brisbane Grammar School - Adolf Hoffman wrote a poem as his own epitaph that was published in the school magazine. It read:

For me no sculptured marble raise
No busts in brass, no names in stone
Write me no books, no faults condone
In lavish words and unguent praise.
Call not my time – “those golden days,”
To be to children, awesome, shown;
Not history's pause, to stand alone,
No passing glory, epic lays.
For I shall tread but once these ways
And go my way and meet my end
My coming shall no portents blaze;
My going shall but few hearts rend;
And this shall be sufficient praise,
“In Duty’s wake he did attend.”