Dieppe raid ASR operations

[ccclarke]

Steve,

The Flt/Lt F. E. Clarke in your listing was my father. We have often tried to find documentation of the fact he was picked up and transported back to the UK on HMS Calpe but so far we have been unsuccessful.
The information Dad had and as he told it' "I don't remember much from the time I was about 50 feet above the water until I woke up in the bottom of a landing craft." He understood that a soldier in a returning landing craft jumped into the water, swam over to the Mustang as it was sinking, pulled Dad out and hauled him back to the Landing Craft.
Based on the injury to Dad's head just above the right eye (a substantial dent and broken bone) they figured that he hit his head on the gunsight when the Mustang pancaked on to the water surface.
I would dearly like to know if you have any records that would confirm any part of this little odyssey. My brother documented a number of conversations he had with Dad in the early '90's and his description of the event where he was shot down and Hollis Hills, his wingman, saved him from being killed, is included.

I don't know whether they allow personal email addresses to be published here but you can reach me email-wise through this websight.

Regards,

Chris Clarke
Calgary, Alberta