Former air gunner who was one of the last of The Few
William “Terry” Clark, who has died aged 101, was one of only two known surviving members of “The Few” – that group of nearly 3,000 airmen who took on the Luftwaffe in the skies above England in the summer of 1940. Clark had joined the Auxiliary Air Force aged 19; then, on 12 July 1940, he joined 219 Squadron as an Aircraftman Second Class, defending York and its nearby airfields in the Battle of Britain.
William Terence Montague Clark was born in Croydon in 1919. He left school when he was 14 and took a job at Croydon Gas. In search of adventure, he quit his job in 1938, and joined the newly formed No. 615 Squadron at nearby Kenley. Initially ground crew, he trained as an air gunner on Hawker Hectors. In the summer of 1940, he flew in twin-engined Bristol Blenheim heavy fighters, and was promoted to sergeant. He then trained as a radio observer in the new Bristol Beaufighter aircraft, and by early 1941, he was stationed at RAF Tangmere in west Sussex. In April, he was sent on a night flight with his commanding officer, Wing Commander Thomas Pike, whose own crew member was ill, and directed him as he shot down a Junkers Ju 88 bomber and a Heinkel He 111 bomber over Surrey. Pike, a future Chief of the Air Staff, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In later combat actions with his usual pilot, Flying Officer Dudley Hobbis, Clark helped shoot down one unidentified enemy aircraft over the Solent, and two more Heinkel He 111s. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in July 1941, while Hobbis was awarded the DFC. They few together often until Hobbis was killed on active service in 1943, aged 33.
After the War, Clark returned to Croydon Gas, and later joined an engineering firm. He’d married his wife, Margaret, with whom he had two sons, in 1944. She died in 2002. Looking back on the events of 1940-1941, Clark said he had been happy to be part of it, but that “every sailor, soldier, airman did their bit. They should all be thanked.” His death leaves John Hemingway, who lives in a care home in his native Ireland, as the last known surviving veteran of the Battle of Britain.