Clark, Charles Peter, son of Charles Harold Clark of Clairac, Lot-et-Garonne, France, and Gladys Mary, d. of Rev. James Morell Blackie of Cheltenham; b. 5 June 1909; adm. Sept. 1922 (G); left Dec. 1926; man. Charles and William Clark & Co, Clairac; RAFVR 1941 -5 (acting Flt Lieut.), despatches (posth.) June 1945; m. 27 June 1936 Cynthia Loveday, d. of Arnold Leslie Thackhall Browelt, solicitor, of Coventry; killed in action 29 Sept. 1944.
Charles Peter Clark was born on the 5th of June 1909 the son of Charles Harold Clark, a director of a catering company and a prune manufacturer, and Gladys Mary (nee Blackie) Clark of Clairac, Lot-et-Garonne in France and of “Eastwood”, 77, Red Road, Barnet in Hertfordshire. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Grant’s from September 1922 to December 1926. He later became the manager of the family firm of Charles and William Clark & Co of Clairac in France. He was married at Leamington, Warwickshire on the 4th of July 1936 to Cynthia Loveday (nee Browett) of Beauchamp Avenue, Leamington Spa. They had a daughter, Caroline, born on the 15th of June 1939.
Following the outbreak of war he returned to England from France where he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and rose to the rank of Sergeant before being commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 1st of September 1941, with seniority from the 28th of July 1941. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 1st of September 1942, with seniority from the 28th of July 1942 and was later promoted to Acting Flight Lieutenant.
He was posted to the Air Ministry in 1943 and joined the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive at Baker Street where he worked in supporting resistance operations in occupied Europe. He was later attached to 161 (Special Duties) Squadron.
Charles Clark took off from Le Bourget, Paris at 1.15pm on the 29th of September 1944 as a passenger in Lysander Mk IIIA V9749 MA-M for a flight to his home base of RAF Tempsford. The aircraft failed to arrive and is thought to have come down into the sea killing all on board.
The passengers and crew were: -
Flight Lieutenant James Alan Lamberton (161 Squadron) (Pilot)
Squadron Leader Anthony Wilfred Alwyne Compton (161 Squadron)
Major John Walter Saunders MBE (Royal Corps of Signals)
Flight Lieutenant Charles Peter Clark (161 Squadron)
He was Mentioned in Despatches, which was announced by the Air Ministry on the 14th of June 1945.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 201.
