Where would be be without chinagraphs?
The Regt was 5 weeks old when he joined it; life seemed simpler then - "Smith, have you got a pen on you?".
"The Association is sad to announce the death of one its most distinguished officers, RAF Regiment Group Captain Mark F HOBDEN OBE; born 13 Mar 22, died unexpectedly on 7 Apr 13, aged 91. He was commissioned into the Corps on 20 Mar 42.
Serving throughout WW2, he commanded 2726 Sqn RAF Regt and was held up at the Kiel Canal by an SS brigade comdr who refused to believe that his ...war was about to end. After an hour of delicate negotiations, he was eventually allowed to proceed and resumed the advance ahead of the Army to Flensburg, where the RAF Regt force secured the airfield there. He was in attendance when Adm Donitz, Hitler’s successor as Fuhrer of the German Reich, and his staff were flown to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe for interrogation.
As a Wg Cdr and OC 3 Wg RAF Regt in 1963, he was responsible for drawing - with a Chinagraph pencil on a Jt Army-RAF HQ map of Nicosia - ‘the green line’ - dividing the Turkish and Cypriot communities. Thus the famous Cyprus ‘Green Line’ was established, which exists still today in the UN-controlled border. In one notable incident, which was reported widely in the UK press at the time, he went ‘striding unarmed and accompanied by his Adjt, Flt Lt O’Dwyer-Russell, into a meat-factory in Nicosia, where armed Greek insurgents were preparing to massacre unarmed Turkish workers’. According to the Daily Mail, the only weapon between the officers was a Sterling sub-machine gun, carried by the Adjt. Without firing a shot, the two offrs placed themselves between the factions and extricated the Turks.
He was subsequently awarded the OBE for Meritorious Service in 1965. Later, he was posted to Aden during the troubles as the Senior Ground Defence Staff Officer and OC Security Wg at RAF Khormaksar. He was promoted to Gp Capt on 1 Jul 70 and retired on 5 Jul 72. During his service, he received no less than three MIDs. The short committal will take place at Hastings Crematorium at 14.45 on Tue 24 Apr 13; there will not be a funeral service as such. Donations in his name may be made to the charity, Cancer UK. He is survived by his wife, Ella, of Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex to whom the Association and the Corps extends their sincere condolences"