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Flight, Swanton Morley, Norfolk for a short course. On the 25th of the same month he was posted to No. 11 Operational Training Unit, Westcott, Buckinghamshire. At this unit, however, he did no flying and on New Year's Day 1942 proceeded to No. 1 Personnel Reception Centre, West Kirby, Cheshire and shortly after embarked for the Middle East theatre of operations.

Squadron Leader Hegman arrived at Khartoum, Sudan on the 31st March 1942 where he was assigned to the communications Flight. Early in May he was transferred to the Meteorological Flight, prior to joining No. 162 Squadron on the 13th June. Operating with this Squadron from various bases in the Middle East, including Malta, as the Pilot of a Wellington bomber, he took part in 53 operational flights. These included attacks on Palermo, Tapani and Brindisi in Italy, the Italian island of Pantallaria, an airfield in Crete, Tobruk, and Biscrta in North Africa and enemy airfields in the Western Desert. He also took part in numerous reconnaissance flights. At the conclusion of this tour he was posted to the United Kingdom, where he arrived on the 16th February, 1943.

Squadron Leader Hegman was posted to No. 11 Operational Training Unit, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, on the 19th March, 1943 and at this station carried out instructional duties on Wellington bombers. On the 23rd of the same month he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation stating:-
"FLIGHT LIEUTENANT HEGMAN HAS TAKEN PART IN A LARGE NUMBER OF OPERATIONAL SORTIES AS CAPTAIN OF AIRCRAFT. HE HAS ALWAYS DISPLAYED THE GREATEST DETERMINATION PERSEVERANCE AND COURAGE."

On the 16th June 1943 he received slight injuries when the Wellington bomber in which he was demonstrating single engine landings, under-shot the airfield and crashed.

At the beginning of November, 1943 Squadron Leader Hegman joined No. 7 Squadron, Oakington, Cambridgeshire, and resumed operational flying. In December he was awarded the Pathfinder's Badge. With No.7 Squadron he took part in 20 air operations against the enemy. The targets included Mannheim, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stettin, Brunswick, Madgeburg and Berlin all in Germany. Altogether he took part in 14 raids on the German capital.