Arthur John "Nobby" Clark

This story and photos are shared with the Trust, taken from the story of Frederick John Parkinson, with kind permission from Ian Parkinson, nephew of Frederick Parkinson.

Remembering Arthur John Clark, 151 Squadron, Royal Air Force, killed in action, 16 August 1944. He served as navigator for Frederick John Parkinson. Known as "Nobby" in the Squadron, the CWGC record states that he came from Ealing, Middlesex, the son of Frederick and Vera Clark. Nobby Clark first served in 604 Squadron before being posted to 125 Squadron, and then 600 Squadron where he became the navigator for John Parkinson after about 6 months.

Group photo of 600 Squadron taken after their 100th enemy aircraft was shot down. John sits in the front row, third from the right, Nobby stands back row, 5th from the right

He served with 600 Squadron in North Africa, Sicily and Salerno Italy before returning to the UK where his final posting was with 151 Squadron at Predannack in Cornwall. It was from there that he and John Parkinson flew a number of low level attacks on railway targets in France, strafing with cannon fire and dropping 500lb bombs.

On August 16th, 1944 John led a 2-aircraft strafing attack on the railway goods yards at Poitiers. Possibly due to the importance of this railway line for bringing up reinforcements to the Battle of Normandy and the amount of times it had been attacked by the RAF, Poitiers was defended by anti-aircraft guns of the SS Kriegsmarine. Sadly, John’s Mosquito was hit. Flying at low level and high speed, eyewitnesses said that smoke was pouring from an engine and despite a number of attempts, John finally lost his fight to gain altitude, crashing near the village of Beruges. Members of the local resistance removed the bodies of John and "Nobby" Clark, before the Germans arrived. They are buried next to each other in the village cemetery and the area outside the gates is named after them in their honour.

British Normandy Memorial - Additional Information

Unfortunately, we do not know anything about Arthur John "Nobby" Clark's early years. If you are aware of them, or you are related to him, we would love to hear from you so we can add to his story.