Cooper, Gordon Beresford

Date of birth:: March 13th, 1914 (Portsmouth/Hampshire, Great Britain)
Date of death:: December 19th, 2006
Service number:: 747951 (NCO)/125352 (Officer)
Nationality:: British (1801-present, Kingdom)

Biography

After leaving School Gordon Cooper worked in the family butcher but joined the RAFVR and was called up soon after the outbreak of the war.
As navigator, In 1941 an 1942 Cooper flew on Wellington bombers in the European theatre. By the end of the war he was flying Liberators in the Far East theatre.
The mission he remembered best was when he helped to deliver medical supplies to 6,000 prisoners of war held by the Japanese in the Rangoon jail. This was a flight of great navigational difficulty. Of the six aircraft that set out from India only that navigated by Cooper arrived over the "target". The other are believed to have crashed into mountains before reaching Rangoon.
As his aircraft flew over the prison and dropped their goods, they saw displayed on the roof of the building "Japs Gone, Extract Digit" indicating that the Japanese forces had left Rangoon and that the prisoners were free although were in urgent need of help.
In total he flew two tours of operations with No. 99 Squadron, and on one occasion was forced to bale out over the jungle, using his silk kerchief map to make it back to base.
Cooper also was an active and talented amateur artist painter. He worked mainly in oils and watercolour, focusing on traditional English landscapes and seascapes

Promotions:
2 June, 1942: Pilot Officer on Probation (emergency)
2 December, 1942: Flying Officer (war sub)
2 June, 1944: Flight Lieutenant (war sub)
23 January, 1952: Appointment to commission as Flying Officer
3 March, 1955: commission resigned

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