William Terence Montague Clark, (11 April 1919 – 7 May 2020) was an English nightfighter navigator/radar operator in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) from 1938 to 1945. He was the penultimate surviving airman of the Battle of Britain. Clark enlisted in the Auxiliary Air Force in 1938 joining No. 615 Squadron at

Kenley Kenley is a suburb within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross and within the southern boundary of London, England. Surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt on three sides, it includes the large open spaces of K ...

in March 1938 as an aircrafthand, then trained to be an aircraft gunner in Hawker Hectors on Army cooperation duties. He joined No. 219 Squadron, then flying

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

s, at Catterick on 12 July 1940, later training on radar as a radio observer, flying in

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...

s in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

. On the night of 16/17 April 1941 Clark flew with the commanding officer of 219 Squadron, Wing Commander T.G. Pike, when Pike's own navigator was taken ill. They intercepted and destroyed a

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

and a Heinkel He 111 in the Guildford area. During the night of 27/28 April 1941, flying with Flying Officer D.O. Hobbis, his regular pilot, Clark assisted in the destruction of an unidentified enemy aircraft, on each of 1/2 June and 13/14 June 1941 they shot down a

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

. Clark was awarded the

Distinguished Flying Medal The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional val ...

, which was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 8 July 1941. Commissioned as a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

in May 1942, Clark had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant by the end of the war. Post war Clark joined the reconstituted Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in 1949 serving in the Fighter and Aircraft Control Branches before resigning his commission in 1954. Clark died on 7 May 2020 at the age of 101, leaving John Hemingway as the last surviving member of

The Few The Few were the airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the aviators of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (RN) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. The term comes from Winston Churchill's phrase " Never, in the field of human c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, William 1919 births 2020 deaths British men centenarians The Few Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Military personnel from Surrey