LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer William John COOPER
Service No: 412908
Born: Parkes NSW, 3 February 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 681 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 681 Squadron Spitfire aircraft PA848), off the Bengal Coast, 2 July 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Valentine and Cecily Mona Cooper, of King’s Plains, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Parkes NSW
Remembered: Column 443, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ivanhoe War Memorial, Ivanhoe NSW
Remembered: Parkes RSL Roll of Honour, Parkes NSW
Remembered: NSW Department of Education Teachers and Trainees WW2 Honour Roll, Sydney NSW
At 0631 hours on 2 July 1944 Spitfire PA848 took off from Alipore, India, en route to a refuelling base at Cox’s Bazaar, preparatory to carrying out a photo reconnaissance over Burma. At 0715 hours the aircraft was plotted over the sea in a position 10 miles north west of Sudharan, Bengal. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it did not return to base after the mission. There were severe rainstorms in the area when searches were carried out, but no trace of the missing aircraft or pilot was found.
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/8/536
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line