LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ronald Leslie CLARK
Service No: 408328
Born: Wallan VIC, 28 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 November 1941
Unit: No. 630 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Kirkby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 630 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND337), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp-Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Masson Clark and Ethel May Clark, of Parkdale, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wallan VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2209 hours on the night of the 30 March 1944, Lancaster ND337 took off from East Kirkby detailed to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. When outbound, the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Bickenbach, 4 kms south west of Emmelshausen, Germany. Six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of ND337 were:
Pilot Officer Ronald Leslie Clark (408328) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kevin Carlyle Green (18111) (Navigator)
Sergeant Thomas Hughes (1796514) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Donnan Jones (1523059) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant David Victor Menell (1804251) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant R I Smith (1220806) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant Norman Worboys (1542876) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
In a PoW Report Sergeant Smith stated: “The aircraft was on fire and the Captain ordered “abandon”. I was first out from my end but lost conscious immediately when leaving and did not see anyone else bale out. When I regained consciousness I did not see the aircraft in the air but there were fires on the ground below which may have been our aircraft. I landed in hilly country and out of sight of fires and unable to investigate. I have no information re Green.”
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/7/460