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FLight Lieutenant Michael Terance CLARKE (151151 ) DFC
617 (Dambusters) Squadron Royal Air Force Date of birth: 28th June 1922 Date of death: 16th April 1945 Killed in action aged 22 Buried at Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery Collective Grave 5 B 1-5
Michael Terance Clarke was born on the 28th of June 1922 the son of Dr. James Kilian Clarke MD and Evelyn Muriel (nee Blake) Clarke, of Farnham, Surrey. He was educated at Lancing College where he won an Exhibition and was in Seconds House from January 1936 to December 1940. He gained his School Certificate in 1938 and Higher Certificate in 1940. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and achieved Certificate A in 1940. He was appointed as a House Captain in 1939 and as a Prefect and Head of House in 1940. He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve becoming a Leading Aircraftsman and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 26th of January 1943. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 26th of July 1943 and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on the 26th of January 1945. He completed a tour of operations with 57 Squadron for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross which was announced in the London Gazette of the 16th of January 1945. On the 3rd of April 1945 he was posted to 617 Squadron to begin his second tour. He took off at 1.49pm on the 16th of April 1945 from RAF Woodhall Spa in Lancaster NG228 KC-V with a bomb load of 12 1,000lb bombs for an operation to bomb the German pocket battleship “Lutzow” which was moored in the Kiel Canal due to lack of fuel. The battleship had been shelling the advancing Russian troops as they fought their way into Germany and their mission was to put her out of action. Fourteen 617 Squadron aircraft carrying 12,000lb “Tallboy” bombs took off for the mission escorted by P51 Mustangs of 442 and 611 Squadrons. This was the third time the squadron had attempted to bomb the battleship; the other occasions had been aborted due to bad weather. They encountered heavy flak over the target both from the ship itself and from land based anti-aircraft batteries. Another aircraft, commanded by Wing Commander Johnny Fauqier, observed that Michael Clarke’s aircraft was hit in the port engine and caught fire, losing its port wing and rolled over, entering an uncontrolled spin and losing part of its tail section before crashing into Karisbor Woods, five miles to the south of Swinemunde. One parachute was seen to open at about 2,000 feet but none of the crew survived. Theirs was the last aircraft to be lost in action by 617 Squadron during the war. The crew was:- Squadron Leader John Leonard Powell DFC (Pilot) Flight Lieutenant Michael Terrance Clarke DFC (Navigator) Flying Officer Alfred Laurence Heath (Bomb Aimer) Flight Sergeant Henry William Felton DFM (Flight Engineer) Pilot Officer Kenneth Arthur John Hewitt (Wireless Operator) Flight Sergeant William Knight (Mid Upper Gunner) Flying Officer James Watson (Rear Gunner) They were buried on the 18th of April in the Caseburg Friedhof at Swinemunde but their bodies were exhumed and reinterred at their present resting place on the 2nd of March 1949. Near to the crash site, local Poles erected part of the tail plane of the aircraft as a memorial to the crew; this was refurbished and rededicated in 1998.

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