Russell Clark was born on 5th June 1918 in Stanmore, Alberta, Canada and was the son of Gordon Russell and Bessie Louisa (nee Freeze) Clark. He had a younger sister. His father was born in Mount Brydges, Ontario while his mother was born on Calgary, Alberta; she had died in 1930. The family lived in Alberta until 1935 when they moved to British Columbia. His father appears to have moved around British Columbia a lot during the 1940s, possibly finding work as a barber. By the time the RCAF compiled their records he was living in Erickson, British Columbia, Canada. His Canadian registration of death certificate states Russell Clark's permanent residence was Nelson, British Columbia.
Russell was working as a bank teller (cashier) for the Imperial Bank when he enlisted for RCAF service in Calgary on 8th September 1941 and living in Creston, British Columbia at the time. He undertook basic training in Canada and gained his pilot's Wings on 23rd October 1942. He also received his commisison to the rank of P/O on the same date and would rise to F/O six months later. He arrived in the UK to complete his training in December 1942 and was posted to 20 (P)AFU on 23rd March 1943 and 24 OTU on 18th May 1943. He spent a brief detachment to 10 OTU in July 1943 before posting to 408 Squadron on 21st July 1943. His crew who arrived at 408 Squadron consisted of Clark, Dee, Marynowski, Moran and air gunner Sgt George Henry Scott RCAF (R/171123). Scott left the crew but was subsequently killed on Ops with 408 Squadron in January 1944. The other four were posted to 1679 Heavy Conversion Unit on 28th August 1943 to convert to fly the Lancaster. He was posted back to 408 Squadron on 23rd September 1943. It is likely that he flew his first "Dickie" operational flight in early October 1943 (either on 7th / 8th or 8th / 9th October) to gain operational experience as a second pilot prior to beginning operational flying with his own crew.
He was the pilot of Lancaster DS737 when it crashed on the North Yorkshire Moors. At the time of the crash he had a total of 322 hours solo flying to his name with 93 hours being on the Lancaster type and 62 hours of those being at night. His Wireless Operator, Les Moran's logbook states that he had flown "EQ-C" "The Countess" operationally for just short of 55 hours. Further details of their known operational flights is given on a seperate webpage. As a result of the crash of Lancaster DS737 on 16th December 1943 he was seriously injured and was admitted to Northallerton's Friarage Hospital where he sadly died on 21st December 1943. He was twenty five years old.
F/O Russell Clark is buried at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
