After school he joined the Royal Air Force in 1981 at the height of the Cold War.

He was learned archaeology under professor Mick Aston and Julian Richards.

• Using his archaeologist's training, Bob Clarke has examined the background of many of the UK's airfields and airfield structures, asking questions about why they were built in their often broadly differing locations, and which condition affected the decisions.
• He discovers in the process the fascinating thought processes behind their construction and illustrates what they reveal about the concerns of their time.
• Clarke research areas cover a number of periods including Prehistoric and Roman Wiltshire and British Military Architecture of the 20th Century (airfields and nuclear), an area where he is considered an authority.
• He is recognized with the discovery of Broad Town Man, a Saxon execution burial from North Wiltshire.