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Clarke, Donald Wallace (Pilot Officer)

Killed in Action 1944-September-12

Birth Date: 1920 (age 24)

Atlee B. Clarke & Grace E. Clarke

Home: Montreal, Quebec (parents)

Service
RCAF
Unit
218 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
In Time
Rank
Pilot Officer
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Navigator
Service Numbers
J/86873

Took off from Methwold at 18:35 in Lancaster Mk I (Sqn code HA-G Bomber Command) on an operation to Frankfurt Germany.

Aircraft lost after a mid-air collision with Lancaster ME-854 of 576 Squadron. Both crews perished. PD-262 crashed at 23:30 inside a triangle made up of the villages of Flomborn to the west Eppelsheim on the north and Gundersheim on the east all being some 15 km NW of Worms.

Killed includes Clarke: P/O Clarence Alwin Black RAAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery grave 19. B. 1. F/O Winston Leslie Leibhardt RAAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10. P/O Henry Clarke RAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10. F/Sgt William Henry Thomas Pettman RAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10. F/Lt Howard Thomas Seller RAF pilot KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10. F/O Graham Olaf Barratt Sinclair RAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10. F/Sgt Kenneth Charles Spiers RAF KIA Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 19. B. 4-10.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Pilot Officer Donald Wallace Clarke was exhumed and reburied.

Avro Lancaster

Avro Lancaster Mk. X RCAF Serial FM 213
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.

The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling. Wikipedia

YouTube Lancaster Bomber

Wkikpedia Wikipedia

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:
RCAF On Strength (234), RCAF 6 Group (5), RCAF 400 Squadron (7), Canadian Aircraft Losses (1732)
last update: 2021-09-18 14:32:33

Lancaster Mk.I PD262



218 (B) Sqn- Squadron (RAF) In Time

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