Son of George Spark and Lillias Alton Spark (née McLean) of East Lothian Scotland. 

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George Spark was the captain of one of 625 Squadron’s most decorated crews, which was lost when their Lancaster disappeared without trace during a raid on Berlin in January 1944. The attack involved 775 Lancasters and Halifaxes and the route to and from Berlin was over both the North Sea and Baltic, where it is believed his aircraft was lost. Forty-five other bombers also failed to return. George and his crew were on their 18th operation, five of which they had flown with 100 Squadron before joining the newly-formed 625 at Kelstern. They were about to go on leave before transferring to a Pathfinder squadron, having finished their training at No. 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit at Blyton. They left Kelstern shortly before midnight on 28 January on board Lancaster DV364 CF-D, which had been delivered new to the squadron when it was formed at the beginning of November 1943. There were no survivors and all the crew are now remembered on the Runnymede Memorial. George was awarded his Distinguished Flying Cross during his time with 100 Squadron, piloting his Lancaster, damaged by both cannon fire and strikes from incendiaries, back to Grimsby from Kassel, with a badly wounded rear gunner and a mid-upper turret out of action. With a new rear gunner, the crew were later part of the squadron’s C Flight, which helped form the new 625 Squadron at Kelstern in the late autumn of 1943. He came from the town of Haddington, in East Lothian, and he was the son of George and Lillias Spark. He is remembered on the Haddington war memorial. The other crew members were the flight engineer Sgt. William Lyssington DFM, St Kitts-born navigator P/O Joseph Alves, bomb-aimer P/O Robert Lathan MiD, wireless operator Sgt. George Bone, mid-upper gunner WOII Lewis Carson RCAF and rear gunner P/O Herbert Watkins DFC, who had joined the crew as a replacement for the wounded gunner. George’s name can be found on panel 100. Sources: Aircrew Remembered/The Berlin Raids by Martin Middlebrook/Haddington War Memorial.

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