Distinguished Flying Medal, GVIR (581158 SGT. F. H. PARKS, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., EIIR., with Second Award Bar (W./O. F. H. PARKS (581158) R.A.F.)
D.F.M. London Gazette 11 February 1941. The original recommendation states: ‘Sergeant Parks has completed 16 operational flights including attacks on Berlin, Leuna, the Channel Ports and other targets in enemy country. In spite of being delayed in his training, through illness, Sergeant Parks quickly became a reliable and courageous navigator and Bomb Aimer. His coolness and gallantry in the face of opposition has been outstanding.’
Frank Harold Parks was born in Eastbourne on 21 April 1921 and joined the Royal Air Force following the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. According to the 1939 Register he was at the Bristol Flying School in Gatesbury where he was a LAC undergoing training with no. 581158.
Qualifying as an Air Observer, his first operational posting was to 58 Squadron, a Whitley unit operating out of Linton-on-Ouse, in February 1940. He is believed to have flown his first sortie in the same month but, up until the summer of 1940, relevant Operations Record Book (O.R.B.) details are sparse by way of aircrew identities. Of his remaining operational activity in 1940, the O.R.B. reveals four sorties flown in September, three in October, one in November and three in December, the targets including Berlin, Mannheim and Regensburg. His final sortie was flown against Boulogne in February 1941, when he is noted as having been taken ill.
Remaining in the Royal Air Force following the cessation of hostilities, Parks was advanced Warrant Officer and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1957. He died in 1986.
Sold with copied research including a photographic image of the recipient.
