A man thought to have been the last surviving member of the RAF’s elite World War Two Pathfinder squadrons has died at the age of 102.
Jack Dark was born in Horsham, West Sussex, in 1923 and worked for Horsham District Council – before and after the war – for a total of 45 years.
Joining the RAF in 1942, he became a navigator and bomb aimer for Lancaster bombers, flying 28 combat missions.
The Pathfinders were tasked with locating and illuminating targets for other bombers.
The work was highly dangerous, with the crews required to circle targets while their colleagues dropped their bombloads, a tactic to improve accuracy.
This exposed them to extra fire from the ground and fighter aircraft, and sometimes led to them being hit by bombs dropped by their colleagues.
According to Visit Horsham, which announced Mr Dark’s death, he was also a keen cricketer and former captain of Nuthurst Cricket Club.
