CLARKE
Robert Clarke, known as Bob, was born on 11 May 1921 to parents Raymond Arthur Clarke and Marjory Cecil Clarke (nee Clifton). He proved to be a very smart student, leaving Bunbury High School at 15 to pursue his keen interest in farming. He was also a first class rifle shot.
Bob had been running the family farm until he enlisted in the RAAF on 21 June 1942, then qualified as a Pilot and transferred to the United Kingdom. He had completed 15 operations in Halifax Bombers and a further 27 operations in Pathfinder Bombers, prior to being shot down during action over Munich, Germany on the night of 7 January 1945. He and his entire crew of seven were killed.
Bob was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross only two days before he was shot down, having achieved the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He has no known grave and is memorialised at the RAF Memorial at Runnymede, United Kingdom, Panel No. 282, and at Bunbury Cemetery Anglican D 681.
The following information was obtained from the Australian War Memorial: Lancaster PB 173 of 635 Squadron took off from RAF station Downham Market, Norfolk at 1902 hours on 7 January 1945 to attack Munich. Nothing further was heard of the aircraft which failed to return to base. A 1948 report confirmed the aircraft crashed at Unterphaffenhofen on 7 January 1945. The aircraft exploded in the air and the remains of only two RAF crew members were recovered.
Members of the crew:
RAAF 427294 — Flight Lieutenant Clarke R.M. DFC (Captain/Pilot)
RAAF 410980 — Hendy G.K. (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
RAF — Pilot Officer Pethard W.T.
RAF Flight Sergeant Mountain C.D. (Wireless Operator)
RAF Pilot Officer Wiggins A.A. (Mid Upper Air Gunner)
RAF Flight Sergeant Watson J.H. (Rear Air Gunner)
RAF Flight Sergeant Robertson T. (Flight Engineer)
DFC Citation:
Acting Flight Lieutenant Clarke, as Pilot, has completed numerous operations against the enemy, in the course of which he has invariably displayed the utmost fortitude, courage and devotion to duty.
Bob's father Raymond Arthur Clarke endured the heartbreak of losing two sons in the RAF during raids over Germany — his brother John Yorke Clarke having been killed on 28 August 1943.
