Son of Mr and Mrs S A Cooper, who enlisted with the RAF 28th June 1939. Killed in action over Derna, North Africa 26th Nov 1941, aged 22 years.
With the shadow of impending war looming, R J Cooper DFC – Jack, as he was known – was accepted into the Royal Air Force (RAF), along with twenty-one other young Australians eager to learn how to fly. War was declared before they arrived in England. Raids over Germany and occupied Europe became part of their training. Jack Cooper became a pilot of the Wellington bomber famed for its long flights under cover of darkness. Most of his flying was from bases in North Africa and Malta undertaking bombing raids on enemy ports and shipping along the Libyan coast. As captain of his Wellington bomber, Jack Cooper was praised on one occasion for bringing home safely a plane crippled by fire; and on another for safely crash-landing his craft in the desert without loss or injury to crew. His plane went missing over Derna off the Libyan coast on 26 November 1941.
Jack was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) “in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy in the air.” His citation referred to his service in 38 Squadron from October 1940 and specified that he had carried out 39 operational sorties totalling 312 operational flying hours, saying that “he has always carried out the task allotted to him with calm determination and energy…This officer’s activities...have all been of a high standard and well deserve recognition.”
[Contributor: Robert Crick, 21/12/2017]