LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Wallace COOKE
Service No: 1510
Born: Warrington, Lancashire, England, 28 February 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 January 1930 (at RAAF Station Point Cook VIC)
Unit: No. 1667 Conversion Unit (RAF) RAF Sandtoft, Lincolnshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1667 Conversion Unit Halifax aircraft LK901), Scotland, 8 November 1944, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Montrose (Sleepy Hillock) Cemetery, Angus, Scotland
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Ada Cooke; husband of Harriet Cooke, of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 8th November 1944, Halifax LK901 took off from RAF Sandtoft at 2045 hours, for a night cross-country training flight. At approximately 2355 hours, the aircraft disintegrated after the pilot lost control in cumulus nimbus cloud which built up to a height of 20,000 feet. The aircraft crashed near Glenshee Post office near Perth, and all the crew were killed. A preliminary investigation into the accident disclosed glueing of the impellor and signs of burning externally on the fuel tanks.
The crew members of LK901 were:
Flight Sergeant Arthur Wallace Cooke (1510) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer William Alexander Edmonds (19882) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Jeffrey James Grieve (419307) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Keith Edward Jeffery (38363) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Bede Mackay (439896) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Arthur Wallace Spencer Maggs (439657) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Walter Charles Picton (300833) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/8/713