LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Ernest COOPER
Service No: 400409
Born: Northcote VIC, 20 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 August 1940
Unit: No. 272 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 272 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft T3291), Eastern Mediterranean, 14 June 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percival Leonard and Lilian Gertrude Cooper, of Stawell, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coburg VIC
Remembered: Column 265 Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At dusk (2030 hours) on 14 June 1942 Beaufighter T3291 took off on convoy escort duties in the Mediterranean south of Crete. The aircraft which did not return to base was last seen in the vicinity of the convoy. Following post war enquiries and investigations it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of T3291 were:
Flight Sergeant Alan Ernest Cooper (400409) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cecil Charles Ridgway (909963) (RAFVR) (Navigator/Wireless Operator)
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, 163/98/535