1565 22 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Lost in action on Tuesday, 1st August 1916, aged 22
Personal Information:
Norman Thomas Clarkson was born in 1894 and enlisted as a corporal in the Royal Flying Corps on 3 May 1915. He married Nellie Beatrice Latham on 14 November 1915 at St Peter Acton. She was the sister-in-law of Frank Mortimer Reffell and Eileen Winifred Reffell, who were brother and sister.
Historical Information:
22 Squadron was formed at Fort Rowner Gosport on 1 September 1915 from a nucleus of men and equipment provided by No. 13 Squadron. The squadron trained on a variety of aircraft types, including the Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2c, the Maurice Farman Shorthorn, the Bleriot XI and the Curtiss JN-3. It received its intended operational type, the Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b in February 1916.
The squadron moved to France on 1 April 1916, and soon began carrying out reconnaissance missions over the front lines. It flew fighter patrols during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, in addition to its normal reconnaissance and photography duties in support of the army.
Memorial:
Arras Flying Services Memorial, Arras, Département du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
The Arras Flying Services Memorial is in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The cemetery is near the Citadel, approximately 2 kilometres due west of the railway station. The Memorial commemorates nearly 1000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave.