
Born 14 March 1924 , in
Swanley, Kent, England; son of Thomas Frederick Clarke and
Dora Evelyn.
Married 07 April 1951 in St.
Sepulchres Church, City of London to Nancy Elizabeth Herbert
(22 January 1929
-
08 Jan 2002 , daughter of
William Herbert and Elizabeth
Lewis one daughter, one son.
Died 08 April 2001 in Swanley,
Kent, England aged
76.
His ashes were dropped from a
Swordfish of the Royal Navy Historic Flight into the Solent
on 10 June 2001
Flying hours in Fleet Air
Arm service:
627h 50m solo
109h 40m dual
Aircraft types flown:
Chance-Vought Corsair
De Havilland Tiger Moth
Fairey Firefly,
Fairey Swordfish
Grumman Wildcat
Hawker Hurricane,
Miles Martinet,
North American Harvard
North American Texan
Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Seafire |
Sub Lieutenant (A) William Anthony Clarke, RNVR (P)
William
Clarke, who was known as 'Tony' or 'Nobby', joined the Royal
Navy Volunteer Reserve as a direct entry for service in the
Air Branch. Selected for training as a Pilot he joined the
Air Branch training establishment HMS ST. VINCENT in
Gosport, Hampshire on June 29th 1942 shortly after
celebrating his 18th birthday.
As a Naval
Airman 2nd Class he spent the next two months in pre-flight
training at HMS ST. VINCENT, attended lectures and
completing courses in subjects such as air navigation,
theory of flight, aircraft recognition, etc. On completing
this first stage of training he, and his fellow officer
cadets were issued with flying clothing, promoted to Leading
Naval Airman and allocated to an Elementary Flying Training
School for stage 2. He arrived at no. 14 EFTS at RAF Elmdon,
Birmingham, on September 23rd, made his first flight in a
Tiger Moth the following day and soloed on his tenth flight
on October 4th. On completing stage 2 he was awarded his
naval wings as a Rating Pilot. The third and final stage of
his journey to becoming a naval aviator took him to No.31
Service Flying Training School (SFTS) at Kingston, Ontario,
Canada, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
He reported
for instruction at 31 SFTS on December 30th 1942 to begin
the final stage of pilot training; this was to last 16
weeks. Flying was carried out in two-seater North American
Harvard trainer aircraft for navigation exercises,
instrument & blind flying, night flying, patrol techniques,
formation flying and other skills in use by the Fleet Air
Arm. Pupils had to achieve a minimum of 100 hours flying
time, half to be solo flights. On the ground training
included classes in seamanship, navigation, armament,
signals, aircraft recognition, ship recognition, aero
engines, and aerodynamics, and Link trainer practice. Having
successfully completed flying training he returned to the UK
arriving at R.N.A.S. Lee-on-Solent in late April 1943 and
attended an Admiralty Board that approved his commission as
an RNVR officer, appointing him as a temporary Midshipman
(A) RNVR (P) on May 25th 1943.
After
attending a two week course at RN College Greenwich, 'Tony
was sent to Scotland to learn the skills of a fighter pilot
at No. 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit RAF Errol,
Perthshire., making his first flight in a high performance
single seat fighter, a Hurricane, on July 13th. From Errol
he was sent to R.N.A.S. Yeovilton for 18 weeks training with
No.759 squadron, part of No.1 Naval Fighter School, being
introduced to the Supermarine Spitfire on July 26th. During
this course 'Tony made his first deck landing on the
training carrier HMS ARGUS on October 25th; to qualify he
had to complete 6 landings. On leaving No.1 Naval Fighter
School he was appointed to 794 Naval Air Firing Unit, part
of No. 2 Naval Fighter School, RNAS Henstridge, Somerset on
November 22nd to complete an air gunnery course, before
moving on to join his first operational squadron No. 792 Air
Target Unit, at RNAS St. Merryn, Cornwall on January 24th
1944. Here he was checked out on Miles Martinet Target Tugs
and spent the next few months towing drogue targets for live
firing exercises.
Tony's next
appointment on March 8th 1944, was to a front-line unit, No.
879 single seat fighter squadron,. The squadron was equipped
with 20 Seafire L.IICs with a strength of 27 pilots; the
squadron was assigned to the escort carrier HMS. ATTACKER;
they had been ashore at RNAS Burscough in Lancashire since
February while the ship was under repair. Tony made his
first flight with 879 on March 11th and flew out to HMS
ATTACKER to complete three deck landings on the 20th. After
a short spell of flying practice the squadron disembarked to
RAF Long Kesh a week later to do Army co-operation exercises
before re-embarking on April 30th. On May 14th ATTACKER, in
company with HUNTER & STALKER sailed for passage to rejoin
the forces in the Mediterranean. ATTACKER put into Gibraltar
on May 24th, and Tony and several other pilots took their
machines ashore to operate from RNAS North Front until June
5th. The squadron was to be split between the ship and
various airfields engaged on Army co-operation flying with
units in North Africa and Italy; Tony and his section
operated ashore in Italy from strips at Pomigliano, June
22nd - 25th, Capodichino, June 22nd - 26th, Orvieto, June
25th - July 19th and Castiglione, July 5th - 18th. The full
squadron was back aboard ATTACKER on July 23rd, when the
ship withdrew and sailed to Malta. Tony had flown 38 sorties
between leaving Gibraltar and arriving at Malta, flying in
Seafire L.IIC & L.III and Spitfire Vs and suffered one deck
landing incident when NM932 bounced on landing on the ship
on July 24th causing the starboard undercarriage leg to
collapse.
HMS
ATTACKER and 879 next took part in Operation DRAGOON, the
invasion of Sothern France from August 15th as part of
Carrier Force TF88.1 with sister CVEs EMPEROR, KHEDIVE,
PURSUER and SEARCHER. During this operation Tony flew a
total of 7 sorties, 4 tactical reconnaissance (TacR), 1
photo recon, and 2 dive bombing sorties. He suffered a
serious crash landing back on ATTACKER on the 21st flying in
LR710, the aircraft bounced over all the arrestor wires and
cleared all the barriers to continue on into the forward
deck park and damaged three other Seafires. HMS ATTACKER
returned to Alexandria on September 2nd to store ship, Tony
spent time flying both from the ship and ashore at RNAS
Dekhelia. The ship was back at by the 14th for Operation
OUTING I in the Aegean sea, joining the CVEs EMPEROR,
KHEDIVE, PURSUER, and SEARCHER to harass and delay German
troop movements in the Dodecanese Islands, (Leros, Kos,
Samos, Rhodes and Levitha). 879 flew armed reconnaissance
sorties from the 16th, and ground attack missions on enemy
transport, including dive-bombed shipping in Rhodes harbour
on he 19th. Returning from a Force Cover sortie on the 19th
Tony suffered another barrier crash after a hard three point
landing caused his aircraft, Seafire LR704, to bounce, the
tail wheel fell off and the aircraft continued on into the
barrier. In the second phase of operations, OUTING II
Seafires from 879 strafed the W/T station on Levitha on
October 3rd and Tactical Reconnaissance flights and
bombardment spotting for the cruiser ROYALIST. The force
returned to Alexandria for a further replenishment of
aircraft and stores on October 5th; this was Tony's last
operation with 879, he conducted 2 TacR flights one over
Rhodes on the 2nd and over Crete on the 44th. ATTACKER
returned to Alexandria on the 5th, Tony made his last flight
with the squadron on the October 10th. He was to return home
to the UK aboard ATTACKER, reaching Plymouth on November
10th, to take up a new appointment
After some
leave Tony joined No.772 squadron, a Fleet Requirements
School at RNAS Ayr on December 22nd 1944. Here he was to fly
a variety of different aircraft types, Firefly, Hurricane,
Martinet, and Swordfish initially, but by April 1945 he was
flying the high performance Corsair and the Wildcat from
September From February to the start of September 1945 he
was part of a long standing detachment operating out of RAF
Andreas before moving to RNAS Ropnaldsway, Isle of Mann for
two months and finally the squadron moved in November to
RNAS Burscough were he had first joined 879 squadron. Tony
made his last flight in the Fleet Air Arm on April 3rd 1946,
carrying out a 30 minute aerobatic display in a Seafire over
RNAS Burscough.

Click the photo frames to open the gallery
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29.06.1942 - 06.09.1942
HMS ST. VINCENT
(RNVR Air branch new
entry training establishment, Forton Barracks, Gosport,
Hampshire)

23.09.1942 - 18.11.1942
14 EFTS Elmdon
24.09.42 1st flight in a Tiger Moth 04.10.42 1st
Solo,10th flight
(Elementary Flying
training establishment, Solihull, West Midlands.)


30.12.1942 -
16.04.1943
31 Service Flying
Training School, Kingston
(RCAF
Kingston, Ontario , Canada.)

04.1942 -
06.1942
HMS DAEDALUS
25.5. 1942 Promoted
Temporary, Midshipman (A) RNVR (P)
(RNAS Lee on Solent,
Hampshire.)
20.06.1943 - 02.07.1943
RN College Greenwich
(Greenwich, London)
03.07.1943 - 17.07.1943
No. 9 (P) AFU Errol
13.7.1943 1st flight Hurricane
((Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit RAF
Errol, Perthshire.)
19.07.1943 - 08.11.1943
HMS HERON - 759 Squadron, No.1 Naval Fighter School.
(RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset with detachments to HMS BLACKCAP,
RNAS Stretton and HMS ARGUS.)

22.11.1943 - 23.12.1943
HMS DIPPER, 794 Naval Air Firing Unit,
(No. 2 Naval Fighter School, RNAS Henstridge, Somerset)
24.01.1944 - 07.03.1944
HMS VULTURE, 792 Squadron, Air Target
Unit,
(RNAS St. Merryn, Cornwall.)
08.03.1944 - 14.11.1944
879 Squadron
(Front-line Seafire squadron aboard
the escort carrier
HMS ATTACKER)

22.12.1944 - 06.04.1946
772 squadron
Fleet Requirements Unit school ,
(22.12.1944 - 04.01.1945
HMS WAGTAIL, RNAS Ayr,
Ayrshire, 10.10.1945 - 05.09.1945 Detachment at RAF Andreas,
05.09.1945 - 24.11.1945 HMS URLEY, RNAS Ronaldsway, Isle of
Man, 24.11.1945 - 06.04.1946
HMS RINGTAIL, RNAS
Burscough.)

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