LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Gordon COOPER
Service No: 413187
Born: Leadville NSW, 9 November 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941
Unit: No. 6 Service Flying Training School, Mallala SA
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Service Flying Training School Anson aircraft R3542), Monteith SA, 4 August 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Murray Bridge Cemetery, SA
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mark and Harriet Eliza Cooper; husband of Olive May Cooper, of Mudgee, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Mudgee NSW
Remembered: Panel 115, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Mudgee District Fallen Soldiers Memorial, Mudgee NSW
Remembered: Mudgee Memorial Clock Tower, Mudgee NSW
At 0950 hours on 4 August 1943, No. 6 Service Flying Training School Avro Anson aircraft R3542 and W2165 collided over Monteith, killing all eight crew members on board both aircraft. The crew members were:
R3542
Leading Aircraftman Leslie Cadd (416929) (Trainee Pilot)
Sergeant Gordon Cooper (413187) (Observer)
Leading Aircraftman Norman Dudley Haines (416956) (Trainee Pilot)
Flying Officer Laurence Vivian Wotzko (2366) (Instructor Pilot)
W2165
Sergeant Mervyn John Nichols (413018) (Observer)
Sergeant Hugh Godfrey Phillips (406625) (Instructor Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman James Brignall Richardson (420056) (Trainee Pilot)
Leading Aircraftman Colin McCall Say (409484) (Trainee Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 100
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line