LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Charles Clifton COOPER
Service No: 420449
Born: Randwick NSW, 15 May 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 6 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Silloth
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 6 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LB137), Scotland, 2 December 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Campbell Town (Kilkerran) Cemetery
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Helen Julia Cooper, of Penshurst, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Penshurst NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 2nd December 1943, Wellington LB137 took off from Silloth detailed to carry out a non-operational training exercise. The aircraft failed to return, and it was found the next day crashed into a hill on the southern tip of the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland and all the crew members had been killed. It was believed that the aircraft became lost and that owing to a low cloud was probably flying low when it crashed.
The crew members of LB137 were:
Flight Sergeant Reginald Francis Canavan (422126) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Charles Clifton Cooper (420449) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Harry Oxley Dransfield (132785) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jeffrey Alfred Duddridge (1337561) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Victor Francis Suttor (412750) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert John Wardrop (422003) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 166/8/314