A Croydon teenager was the youngest member of the Royal Air Force (RAF) to die in World War II as a result of enemy action.
Harry William Clack was just 16 when he died while helping to recover a German reconnaissance Dornier Do 215.
The aircraft was shot down on October 24, 1940, by defending fighters. The wreckage landed close to the Crown Inn, near Eaton Socon in Cambridgeshire.
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The four crew members abandoned the aircraft, but only one survived.
The next day, Harry was part of the crew sent to recover the aircraft. He and another airman died after being electrocuted when the crane jib made contact with overhead power lines.
Harry, a former pupil at John Ruskin Central School in Norwood, volunteered for service as opposed to being called up.
He started his training as an engine fitter on January 10, 1939, at Halton in Buckinghamshire.
He was 15 years old.
He finished his accelerated training on October 5, 1940, and was posted to Cambridge on salvage and repair duties.
What makes his death on October 25 even more tragic is that the German aircraft was the first that he had worked on.
Details about Harry's life in the airforce have been uncovered by ex-serviceman Phillip Stephens who has been researching how many RAF Halton apprentices died during the Second World War.
Alyce Menhinnitt, from Shirley, contacted the Croydon Guardian last year after we sent out an appeal for information about Harry on behalf of Mr Stephens. She revealed that she is related to the brave teen.
She said: "My grandmother and Harry's father were cousins and lived in the same area of Croydon. I've done a bit of research on him. There are a lot of Clacks in the Croydon area.
"Harry had one brother called Frederick L Clack born in 1925. Their mother's maiden name was Blake."
Mr Stephens said: "Although he was deemed sufficiently trained and competent to perform the duties commensurate with his rank, he was, in accordance with Air Council Instructions, still receiving the apprentice rate of pay, being under the age of 18.
"It would seem that ignoring St Luke's dictum that the labourer is worthy of his hire' is not entirely a modern phenomenon in military circles."
Harry was buried in plot 6363 in Cambridge City Cemetery.
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